The violence that scarred a football match between Israeli and Dutch teams left fresh scars on the diverse city now in search of healing.
Amsterdam, the Netherlands – More than a week after clashes in Amsterdam, Tori Egherman, a Jewish writer and researcher who lived in the Dutch capital for 20 years, is still angry. In a café, the poster above her – with a black dove – reads “Peace now.”
The image was designed by the Dutch graphic designer Max Kisman since the start of Israel’s latest war on Gaza and has been distributed free of charge to tens of thousands since.
“What pisses me off is they just come and behave in the most violent and racist ways and then leave us to clean up after them,” she said of the fans of the Israeli football club involved in last week’s violence.
“This episode only makes Jews and Muslims suffer the most. If we are more divided and can’t work together, there’s little we can do as communities to improve the current situation.”
On November 8, fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv who had traveled to support the Israeli team playing the Dutch group Ajax vandalized Palestinian flags and chanted racist, dehumanizing slogans.
