Dutch state secretary to quit over racist remarks after riots

Nora Achahbar, Dutch state secretary for Benefits and Customs, will resign later today because of racist remarks within the cabinet following the violence in Amsterdam last week, national media report.

Racist comments were made during the Council of Ministers’ – the governing cabinet – meeting last Monday, according to Achahbar, a former judge, who herself has a Moroccan background.

Media report that other ministers from the conservative New Social Contract (NSC) party — one in four coalition parties — are equally worried about the tensions.

Pro-Palestinian protesters and Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters clashed last week in Amsterdam, which drew reactions from international leaders.

European leaders labelled the attacks on the Israeli supporters as antisemitic, but many on social media claim that Maccabi supporters instigated and provoked violence in the days and hours leading up to the match last week.

Geert Wilders, the leader of the right-wing Freedom Party (PVV), which is also in the government, said in a parliament debate that he wants to make it possible to revoke passports of people with dual nationality, and blamed Moroccans for the violence. 

NSC is one of the four parties forming the Dutch government, led by independent Prime Minister Dick Schoof, since July. The coalition is dominated by Wilders’ PVV, the winner of the November 2023 election, the liberal VVD, and farmers’ party BBB.

NSC has four ministers and two other state secretaries in the cabinet. 

Frans Timmermans, the leader of the opposition Greens/Social Democrat party (PvdA-GroenLinks), said: “It is ridiculous that the State Secretary feels forced to resign. A decent cabinet would kick out the racists instead of letting those who are bothered by racism leave.”