A minister has resigned from the Dutch government over what she alleges were racist comments made by colleagues related to attacks on Israeli football fans.
Nora Achahbar, who was born in Morocco, quit after a heated cabinet discussion of the violence that flared up on the streets of Amsterdam after a football match between local club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv on November 7.
Ms Achahbar, a former judge and public prosecutor, said in a statement she was resigning with “with pain in my heart”. "Polarisation in the recent weeks has had such an effect on me that I no longer can, nor wish to fulfil my position in this cabinet,” she said.
Ms Achahbar indicated at the cabinet meeting that she had objections to language used by her colleagues, after statements were made that she felt were racist, the Dutch state broadcaster NOS reported.
The Benefits and Customs Minister resigned on Friday over what she says was a culture of inappropriate, off-colour jokes by fellow cabinet members in recent weeks, a ministry representative said.
Her decision to leave threw the survival of the fragile four-party Dutch coalition government into question. The coalition, which only came to power in July, could have struggled to retain the numbers needed to govern. But Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced late on Friday that after five hours of discussions the coalition was intact, following fears other members of Ms Achahbar's New Social Contract (NSC) party would follow her.
Mr Schoof, a former spy chief without party affiliation, also vehemently denied Ms Achahbar's allegations, saying “this cabinet is against racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination. There was and is no racism”. The coalition is led by Geert Wilders's anti-Islam populist party PVV, which came first in a general election a year ago.
Mr Wilders, who is not a cabinet member, has repeatedly said Dutch youth of Moroccan descent were the main attackers of the Israeli fans, and called for anyone convicted to be stripped of Dutch citizenship and deported. Palestinian flags were torn down from houses before the game and taxis damaged by visiting fans, and the situation spiralled out of control after the game ended.
Young people, some on scooters, searched for Israeli fans and punched and kicked them before fleeing police, Amsterdam's mayor Femke Halsema said. More than 170 witnesses have been identified and police have taken evidence from dozens of them, and Mr Schoof has said the authorities are also examining videos posted to social media.
Police said the attackers were reacting to calls on social media to attack Jewish people. Mr Schoof attributed the attacks against Israeli fans to “a specific group of young people with a migration background” though police have not specified the ethnicity of the suspects.
Police and prosecutors piecing together the details of the attacks have made five more arrests, bringing the total number of people held so far to 68. The violence took place against the backdrop of an increasingly polarised Europe, with heightened tensions following a rise in anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli and Islamophobic attacks since the start of the war in Gaza.
Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested in Amsterdam after ignoring a ban on demonstrations announced after the violence. A tense France-Israel football match on Thursday became an outlet for French Jews to assert their support for Israel amid heavy security and calls for a boycott over Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Jordan cabinet changes
In
- Raed Mozafar Abu Al Saoud, Minister of Water and Irrigation
- Dr Bassam Samir Al Talhouni, Minister of Justice
- Majd Mohamed Shoueikeh, State Minister of Development of Foundation Performance
- Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research
- Falah Abdalla Al Ammoush, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Basma Moussa Ishakat, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Ghazi Monawar Al Zein, Minister of Health
- Ibrahim Sobhi Alshahahede, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment
- Dr Mohamed Suleiman Aburamman, Minister of Culture and Minister of Youth
Out
- Dr Adel Issa Al Tawissi, Minister of High Education and Scientific Research
- Hala Noaman “Basiso Lattouf”, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Mahmud Yassin Al Sheyab, Minister of Health
- Yahya Moussa Kasbi, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Nayef Hamidi Al Fayez, Minister of Environment
- Majd Mohamed Shoueika, Minister of Public Sector Development
- Khalid Moussa Al Huneifat, Minister of Agriculture
- Dr Awad Abu Jarad Al Mushakiba, Minister of Justice
- Mounir Moussa Ouwais, Minister of Water and Agriculture
- Dr Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education
- Mokarram Mustafa Al Kaysi, Minister of Youth
- Basma Mohamed Al Nousour, Minister of Culture
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
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Ipaf in numbers
Established: 2008
Prize money: $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.
Winning novels: 13
Shortlisted novels: 66
Longlisted novels: 111
Total number of novels submitted: 1,780
Novels translated internationally: 66
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
Strait of Hormuz
Fujairah is a crucial hub for fuel storage and is just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.
The strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just three km wide in either direction. Almost a fifth of oil consumed across the world passes through the strait.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, a move that would risk inviting geopolitical and economic turmoil.
Last month, Iran issued a new warning that it would block the strait, if it was prevented from using the waterway following a US decision to end exemptions from sanctions for major Iranian oil importers.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE BIO:
Sabri Razouk, 74
Athlete and fitness trainer
Married, father of six
Favourite exercise: Bench press
Must-eat weekly meal: Steak with beans, carrots, broccoli, crust and corn
Power drink: A glass of yoghurt
Role model: Any good man
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