(Jerusalem Post) Amsterdam Mayor Femka Halsema said she regretted calling the riots in Amsterdam a “pogrom” because this was being used to discriminate against the Moroccan-Muslim population of the city, Dutch media reported on Monday.
The riots that erupted following an Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv game led to mass violence throughout the city. Large groups attacked people they suspected were Jewish or Israeli, often demanding to see their identification to confirm their ethnicity.
In an interview with Dutch state media NOS, Halsema said that she would not use the term “pogrom” to describe the events again and that it was wrong to do so initially.
At first, she said at the press conference immediately following the riots that “young men on scooters crisscrossed the city looking for Israeli football fans. It was a ‘hit-and-run.’ I fully understand that this brings back memories of pogroms.”
