The mayor of Amsterdam has taken back comments describing violence that took place following a football match between Israeli and Dutch teams earlier this month as a “pogrom”, and has said Israel “bypassed” Dutch authorities regarding the details of the events.
Mayor Femke Halsema was speaking on Sunday evening on Dutch state broadcaster NPO’s News Hour programme.
On 6 and 7 November, travelling Maccabi Tel Aviv fans stirred trouble in different parts of the Dutch capital by chanting racist anti-Arab slogans ahead of their Uefa Europa League match against Amsterdam club Ajax.
A) She should have never called it a term that has that much meaning behind it.
B) She should have maybe waited to hear some facts before speaking about it.