King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands juxtaposed in a Christmas address Wednesday the malaise of Dutch Jews and Palestinians, urging the former not to emigrate and reminding the latter that “this is your country, too.”

The unusual appeal, which many praised and many others said was misguided and inappropriate, came in the wake of a wave of antisemitic assaults in Amsterdam on Nov. 7-8 by Muslim men against Israeli soccer fans.

The assaults, which many Dutch Jews have called a pogrom, prompted a heated national debate about antisemitism, Muslim radicalism and allegations that Israel is perpetrating genocide in Gaza. Earlier this week, five of the perpetrators were given what were widely seen as lenient sentences.

Jewish students in Amsterdam told the Dutch monarch about “how they prefer to keep quiet on the street and in the tram,” he said. Whereas Palestinians in Vlaardingen spoke “about their fear for the fate of family members in their country of origin” and “about their helplessness and despair,” he added.

“To Jewish Dutch people who tell me they doubt their future here, I say: Stay! We belong together.

“To Dutch Muslims, I say: This is your country too; this is your country too,” added the king. He did not name the assaults against the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans but may have referenced them when he said: “We do not resort to violence, even when we feel hurt or misunderstood.”

Juliaan van Acker, an emeritus professor from Radboud University in Nijmegen and an expert in rehabilitating juvenile delinquents, slammed the address on X, calling it a promotional speech for “looking the other way.”

With many millions of Muslims in Europe, “heavily guarded synagogues and Jewish schools, a Jew with foresight would do better to emigrate to Israel as soon as possible,” wrote van Acker, who is not Jewish. He wondered whether radical Muslims “really belong” in the Netherlands.

Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam and pro-Israel Party for Freedom, tweeted immediately after the address: “The Netherlands is ours, proud of our culture, our customs, our traditions, it is our country.”

‘Not safe for Jews’

Jan Dijkgraaf, a prominent Dutch journalist, wrote in a column about the king’s speech that the only important part of it was the juxtaposition between Jews and Muslims.

“Without directly mentioning it, you make it clear in two paragraphs what Jews have known for a long time, but what non-Jews who have taken off their blinders discovered since the Hamas pogrom on October 7, 2023: That the Netherlands is not a safe country for Jews. Not then. Not now. Never,” Dijkgraaf wrote.

The address also received praise, including from Dutch Jews who found it “beautiful and unifying,” as Itai Cohn, a Jewish resident of The Hague who promotes dialogue between Jews and Muslims, wrote on X.

Much of the criticism about the speech on social media in the Netherlands was about the absence of a Christmas tree, which previous monarchs tended to have in the background of their filmed holiday addresses, but which Willem-Alexander dispensed with soon after becoming king in 2013.

On Tuesday, a court in Amsterdam handed sentences that ranged from 100 hours of community service to six months in jail to five perpetrators of the Nov. 7-8 assaults. The sentences, four of which fell considerably short of what the prosecution had sought, were widely seen by Dutch Jews as lenient in light of the magnitude and violence of the events.

“As someone who witnessed these trials firsthand, I am deeply disheartened by the leniency of these sentences” said Ziporah Reich, director of litigation at The Lawfare Project, which provides pro bono legal services to protect the civil and human rights of the Jewish people worldwide.

Image - JNS/King Willem-Alexander delivers his annual Christmas address in The Hague on Dec. 25, 2024. Credit: Courtesy of the Dutch Royal House