Amsterdam Cries (2)

Some more updates and a longer podcast

The riots continued on Monday evening, long after the last Maccabi supporter had departed the city. Roaming gangs terrorized a neighbourhood, engaged with police forces and even set a tram on fire. Of course as much as I would love to report everything that is happening, I can’t cover all of it, the goal here is to analyze and provide the sort of context that is lacking in other places.

To that end, Vivian Bercovici, Canada’s former Ambassador to Israel who now runs a great news site, The State of Tel Aviv, interviewed me, David de Bruijn and Eitam Zach in this long podcast about the Amsterdam riots and the history behind them. Vivian is doing great work; she has been covering the news relentlessly since October 7th and she is also a fun person to hang out with. Do check it out.

Political Consequences

As predicted, there were rowdy debates in Amsterdam city council on Tuesday - no doubt intensified by the Monday night violence - and nationally today in Dutch national parliament. The power behind the throne of the current right leaning Dutch cabinet, Geert Wilders, has been calling for drastic action and pushing the idea of deporting Dutch citizens with dual nationality, in particular zeroing in Moroccan youths. The opposition has taken the position that there are two sides to the violence, an argument that is not easy maintain given all the evidence that points to one side organizing the attacks well ahead of time. There is also a justifiable fear that all Muslims in The Netherlands are a target now and that would deeply fracture a society that is already on a dangerous edge. It is once more evidence of how difficult it is to control a radical minority while maintaining peace and order. The opposition seems unwilling to support far more draconian measures like deportation and outlawing certain influential social media accounts, which are now on the table. Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, has survived the political turmoil for now.

But to alert everyone to the palpable impact and danger to free societies, the mayor of Utrecht - the fourth largest city in The Netherlands - cancelled a protest against university budget cuts after receiving reports that pro-Palestinian protestors would hijack the rally. So bread-and-butter domestic manifestations are now under threat to lose their legitimacy because the pro-Hamas crowd is somehow involved. And that effectively means that you can expect hate, disruptions and, yes, violence. There goes your democracy.

It seems that for the first time since Theo van Gogh’s murder in 2004 a deep realization is sinking in that a fifth column and a weak government have together contributed to a level of danger and unsafety on Dutch streets that, if left unchecked, will spiral out of control. The political question is thus, how far are we willing to let that go? If the pillars of a free and open democracy are starting to crumble, what will be next? In order to protect our society, can we start to curb some of our freedoms for the greater good? It is not easy to answer, but watch the Dutch, their country is now a testing laboratory and their experiences will be deeply instructive.

The Dutch and Jews

One question that came up from my readers is about the position of Jews in The Netherlands. Given that the percentage of Dutch Jews murdered was so high at 72%, it begs the question: why? I have developed my own thoughts around it and will break it down in a few points. Note that a lot of North Americans always think the Dutch are unusually liberal by nature as well as the envy of the world when it comes to tolerance, but I hate to pour some really cold water on that notion. At best the Dutch are pragmatic, at worst indifferent. In fact as a small trading nation without natural resources, welcoming refugees from all over the world made evident sense: they brought capital, expertise and connections. As such Jews rapidly integrated and became part of the Dutch fabric: in business, arts, science and politics. Think for instance Baruch Spinoza.

So, many were deported and murdered during WWII and here is why:

1. The rapid and positive integration created a different mentality and mindset among Dutch Jews. They weren’t used to pogroms and abuse as compared to their Eastern European brothers and sisters. So when the Nazis came for them they were utterly unprepared. Testimonies from concentration camp survivors point to the fact the Dutch Jews were the first to succumb to the murder and violence, they simply lacked the resilience and street-smarts to deal with the institutionalized horror they encountered and had never seen before;

2. Dutch society is famed for its administrative efficiency, it is a well-oiled bureaucracy that works like a charm, honestly it is second to almost none. Every inch of the country is accounted for, organized and highly regulated. That system was put in place well before WWII, so all the public registries and databases made it incredibly easy for the Nazi occupiers to lift relevant population data and track their targets. It was one of the reasons why the Dutch resistance would attack and try and destroy public registries with fire or bombs: they had become a tool in the hands of the enemy. So when the Holocaust got underway, the Nazi’s job was relatively easy to the extent they had access to all these public records;

3. The Netherlands is flat and a bit larger than Maryland and Vancouver Island. So, where do you hide? Jews in Eastern Europe could hide with partisans in the deep forests in Russia or Belarus, or in France and Italy in the Alps. No such luck in the lowlands. Small and flat. Easy to search and spot hiding places.

4. And yes finally the worst part: collaboration. Although I do not think for a second that the Dutch are more anti-Semitic than other nations, the above three points in combination with a compliant police and railway apparatus delivered a mortal blow to the Jewish community, and that includes Dutch Nazi groups and organizations. For shame: it was not until 2013 that Dutch historian Ad van Liempt wrote “Jodenjacht’ (“Jew Hunt”) in which the duplicitous role of Dutch police was described in gruesome detail. The Nazi occupiers took over the entire state apparatus on all levels and most public servants continued to work and follow instructions, only now from a German superior. The state machine just rolled on. Qualifying note: not everyone of course. There was lots of resistance, but in the end it was too little and very often too late.

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