Netherlands’ government survives after minister resigns over politicians’ racist comments 

The Netherlands’ government and its coalition has survived despite a minister’s resignation over alleged racist comments made by officials following clashes in Amsterdam between Israeli football fans and pro-Palestinian locals.

On Friday this week, Dutch Junior Finance Minister Nora Achahbar resigned from the country’s cabinet in an unexpected move, protesting against some of her colleagues’ alleged claims that Dutch youth of Moroccan descent had attacked Israeli fans last week after a football match between Dutch team Ajax and Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv.

The reported comments by members of the Netherlands’ mostly far-right coalition government are in contradiction to extensive eyewitness and video evidence showing the Israeli fans aggravating the situation by first chanting anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian slogans while pulling down Palestinian flags, vandalising property, and assaulting those who attempted to prevent them.

READ: Dutch security units dismayed by Israeli influence on national politics

In her resignation letter to parliament, Achahbar – a Morocco-born former judge and public prosecutor – stated that the “polarising interactions of the past weeks made such an impact on me that I am no longer able to effectively carry out my duties as deputy minister”.

Her move had initially triggered an emergency meeting in which other cabinet members of her centrist New Social Contract (NSC) party also threatened to quit, igniting fears that the country’s four-party governing coalition would break down and lose its majority in parliament, which would have caused the government to collapse.

At a news conference at The Hague the same evening, however, Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof announced that “We have reached the conclusion that we want to remain, as a cabinet for all people in the Netherlands”. Referring to “the incidents in Amsterdam last week”, Schoof said that “there is a lot of upheaval in the country. It was an emotional week, a heavy week and a lot has been said and a lot happened.”

Despite having earlier linked the violence in the capital to those “with a migration background” who do not share “Dutch core values”, Schoof insisted that there “has never been any racism in my government or in the coalition parties”.

OPINION: Why should Europe be concerned about the events in Amsterdam?