The Netherlands takes issue with Israel’s handling of official report on Amsterdam riots

The Netherlands wants to have an official discussion with the Israeli government about the manner in which the latter distributed a report about recent violence in Amsterdam which targetted fans of Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv. The Cabinet is particularly concerned about how an official document produced by an Israel ministry regarding an incident in the Netherlands was published informally and without regard for the country’s bilateral relationship, said Dutch Justice and Security Minister David van Weel after the Council of Ministers meeting on Friday.

“The way in which this report was distributed, namely not to official bodies, but via social media channels and other informal channels, is not the way in which we want to receive information,” he said on Friday.

The report describes the attacks on Israeli football fans as a “pogrom,” a term which was also used by Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, but which she later claimed she regretted saying. It links a number of Dutch pro-Palestine organisations to the violence, and lists the names of their leaders.

Van Weel also said it was “undesirable” that information about Dutch citizens was released “unfiltered” to the outside world. “So we are addressing the Israeli authorities on this. We are studying the report’s contents.”

Van Weel wrote in a letter to the Tweede Kamer, “For the individuals in question and the organizations they represent, such public allegations can have negative consequences.” His letter to the lower house of Parliament was co-signed by Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp.

“It also goes against the principles of our democratic legal order.” The report features the logo of the Israeli Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism.

BBB leader Caroline van der Plas asked Prime Minister Dick Schoof about the report earlier this month during the Parliamentary debate on the violence in Amsterdam. “Is it true that this is an official report?” she questioned with surprise.

The BBB is the smallest of four parties in the governing coalition, with partners PVV, VVD and NSC. Schoof is not a member of either of the four parties. Van Weel is one of the VVD’s Cabinet members, and Veldkamp comes from the NSC.