In November, the Dutch political elite overwhelmingly sided with Israeli football fans after they went on a rampage in Amsterdam and provoked violence with local residents. The injustice did not stop at the twisted narrative Dutch politicians chose to adopt.
The clashes gave the ruling Dutch right-wing coalition a convenient excuse to table a host of measures that clearly target the country’s Muslim community. These proposals – which they had likely had up their sleeves for a long time – included stripping dual nationals of their passports and migrants of their temporary residency permit if they are deemed to be “anti-Semitic” – with the caveat that in today’s political climate, almost any statement criticising Israel’s genocide in Gaza is being labelled as anti-Semitic or terrorist.
Other measures include barring so-called anti-Semitic organisations from public funding, labelling them as terrorist entities, and placing them on sanctions lists, banning the Palestinian prisoner support network Samidoun, and criminalising the “glorification of terrorism”.
So far, the government has implemented only one of these proposals – the establishment of a “taskforce for the fight against anti-Semitism”. It remains to be seen if and when the others will be put into practice.
To anyone who has followed closely what Germany has done over the past 15 months, the rhetoric and actions of the Dutch government may sound familiar. For over a year now, the German government has gone out of its way not only to support Israel, but also to criminalise and scapegoat its Muslim, refugee and immigrant communities. In doing so, it has set a precedent that other European countries are now following.
In June, the German parliament passed a new citizenship law that mandates an “anti-Semitism check” for applicants and rules out granting citizenship to anyone deemed “anti-Semitic” or not committed to Germany’s raison d’etat for its unconditional support for the Israeli state. The criteria rely on the problematic IHRA definition that conflates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.
Liking a social media post with slogans like “From the river to the sea” or one that accuses Israel of murdering children could be enough for applicants to be denied citizenship. Dual citizens may not be safe either – German law allows authorities to revoke citizenship up to 10 years after it was granted, though the threshold for doing so remains high and largely untested.
In October, German lawmakers also approved new immigration policies, allowing the state to revoke the refugee status of individuals who are deemed to espouse “anti-Semitism”.
In November, the German parliament passed a resolution targeting individuals and groups critical of Israel. Those deemed to be “anti-Semitic” under the IHRA definition or found to be supporting the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement are to be excluded from any public funding initiatives – even if their work is completely unrelated to Palestine.
The resolution also calls for “utilising repressive options” and using “criminal, residence, asylum and nationality law” against those perceived to be “anti-Semitic”.
While the resolution is non-