The Dutch counter terrorism unit NCTV is reviewing whether there was unwanted foreign interference by Israeli authorities in the Netherlands in the wake of the violence in Amsterdam earlier this month, the AD reported on Friday. 

Israeli ministers were quick to condemn events in the Netherlands, while Amsterdam police were still trying to establish what had happened and later an Israeli secret service report purportedly showing links from Dutch activists to Hamas was circulated to MPs.

Foreign affairs minister Caspar Veldkamp said earlier in the week he can not anticipate the results but confirmed the report is likely to be completed at the end of next week. He also stressed that he understood the emotions of the Israeli cabinet.

Israel has also claimed several times that the Dutch authorities were warned about risks surrounding the Ajax Maccabi Tel Aviv game, but Veldkamp and other Dutch officials have denied receiving any notifications.

The issue is extremely sensitive in The Hague, in particular given Veldkamp’s planned trip to Israel and the Middle East has been cancelled in the wake of the arrest warrant issued by the ICC for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel also reacted furiously when Amsterdam’s mayor Femke Halsema said she would not have used the term pogrom when talking about the attacks in Amsterdam if she had known her words would be used as propaganda.

Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar responded by accusing Halsema of a cover-up. “Hundreds of Israeli fans who came to a football match were followed and attacked,” he said on social media.

As yet police have not said how many attacks there were in the Dutch capital that night, or how many people were injured.

Meanwhile, the cabinet has published details of a €4.5 million annual programme to tackle anti-Semitism in the Netherlands. A task force will be set up to increase the safety of Jewish students at universities and assess the risks of sit-ins at NS railway stations.

The task force will include representatives from the Jewish community, ministries, the education sector, the sports sector, mayors and the national anti-Semitism coordinator.

Many of the measures had already been announced, such as criminalising the glorification of terrorism, fast-track court cases and more police access to app and chat groups.

Safety

“I will only consider the measures to be a success if I no longer have to talk to the Jewish community about their safety, that they no longer think about emigrating and that little children no longer say they don’t want to be Jewish,” said justice minister David van Weel.

The Netherlands, he said, supports the definition of anti-Semitism drawn up by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance which states “anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

A further €1.3 million has been allocated for security measures at Jewish schools and other institutions.