Last Thursday’s violence in Amsterdam was largely caused by youths “from immigration” and tough measures must be taken to deal with them, Prime Minister Dick Schoof told reporters on Monday afternoon.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Schoof said “we have to get rid of anti-Semitism” through “better integration, better child-rearing and education”.

The attacks on several Jews by “youths on scooters” following the Ajax Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer match were “shocking and reprehensible,” Schoof said.

The Jewish community in the Netherlands must feel safe, he said. “We all have a responsibility … including the parents of these children,” he said. “The Netherlands has a broad integration problem.”

The problems caused by Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters are not an excuse for “Jew-hunting” or anti-Semitic violence, he said. Arresting the perpetrators is the top priority, he said. “The police work around the clock.”

Schoof would not go into detail about what happened Thursday night and said the number of youths with foreign roots who were involved had not yet been determined. A total of 62 people were arrested on Thursday and one on Friday, and all but four have since been released.

The four, aged 16, 17, 19 and 26, had preventive arrest for two weeks by a court on Monday. The two young men come from Amsterdam and are suspected of throwing fireworks at the police and assaulting a man. The 26-year-old from Amsterdam said he assaulted an elderly man and the 19-year-old from Monnikendam threw stones at the police.

As of Friday, police have yet to say anything about the backgrounds of those picked up or provide more details about the hit-and-run attacks on downtown Jewish people.

“All efforts are currently focused on arresting the individuals involved in these horrific attacks on Jews,” Schoof said. Examining the possibility that the attacks were directed from abroad is part of that investigation, Schoof said.

The Prime Minister was asked about the pledge in the right-wing coalition agreement to strip Dutch citizenship from dual nationals found guilty of terrorism and whether this could be extended to anti-Semitism. Schoof said this must first be debated in parliament before any steps can be taken in this direction.

Israeli warnings

Earlier, Justice Minister David van Weel confirmed that Israeli intelligence had not informed the Netherlands of the risks surrounding the match.

Israel claimed that Dutch security services had been warned, but Van Weel said that security services and police files had been checked and no such warnings were found.

“If I had found something, I would have said,” he said. “We’re still checking because I want to make sure I haven’t missed anything, but so far I’ve scored.”

Amsterdam’s city council will debate the events in the capital on Tuesday, and officials said earlier Monday that they expect a first report on exactly what happened to be completed by then.