WorthyNews: Dutch Fear More Antisemitic Attacks; Jews Consider Fleeing

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By Worthy News’ Stefan J. Bos with Johan Th. Bos reporting from the Netherlands

THE HAGUE/AMSTELVEEN (Worthy News) – Dutch legislators want April 25 to be an annual national day against antisemitism after a rising number of violent incidents against citizens of Jewish descent.

After an emotionally charged debate at the House of Representatives, a proposal was adopted to have a yearly parliamentary debate on that day about hatred towards Jews.

The initiative comes as the Netherlands prepares for the annual May 4 ‘Remembrance of the Dead’ when the Dutch remember Jews and others who died in World War Two and post-war armed conflicts or peacekeeping missions.

Legislators fear pro-Palestine groups will interrupt the live televised two minutes of silence for victims, including the roughly 102,000 Jews deported from the Netherlands and murdered in Nazi death camps.

Caroline van der Plas, who leads the Farmer–Citizen Movement party (BBB), blamed antisemitism at least in part on the massive Muslim migration to the Netherlands, long seen as Europe’s most tolerant liberal nation.

She cited research showing that most people in Islamic nations do not condemn the October 7 Hamas massacre of 1,200 people in Israel. Van der Plas recalled that the “German government requires newcomers to acknowledge the Holocaust and pledge to protect Jews.” She said she wants the Netherlands to demand a similar pledge from asylum seekers.

EMOTIONAL SPEECH

In an emotional speech, she wondered how someone who died in the Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, would feel about the Netherlands now.

Van der Plas noted that the Netherlands had become a nation where supermarkets remove products from Israel, where a rabbi has been mistreated in a shop, where a Jewish singer was attacked on stage by pro-Palestine protesters, where a theater makes a difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Jews, with ‘good’ Jews meaning those who support Palestine.

In addition, there have been reports of people swearing and spitting at Jewish Dutch people, including Holocaust survivors or their relatives, even during the recent opening of the Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam.

Anti-Israel protesters have also been linked to defacing synagogues and shouting slogans such as “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!” at train stations and other locations.

Dutch police said they received 880 reports of anti-Semitism last year, over 300 more than in 2022.

Critical researchers said rising antisemitism “cannot be seen separately from the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip and Israel.”

Israel made clear that the Hamas attacks on October 7, described as “the worst atrocities against Jews since the Holocaust,” sparked the war in Gaza in which thousands died, including many Hamas fighters.

MANY ATTACKS

Van der Plas’ and others suggested that Muslim migrants have carried out many attacks, though antisemitic slogans have also been heard in sports stadiums.

Christian legislator Mirjam Bikker of the ChristianUnie (ChristianUnion) recalled that Esther of the Bible risked her life to save her Jewish people.

She made clear that the Dutch should be encouraged by her courage to stand up for the Jewish people. Bikker said that among the up to 40,000 Jewish people in the Netherlands, many are afraid. “At the dinner table, Jewish people ask: ‘Should we stay, or should we leave and go [to Israel]? That is a scandal’,” she added.

She has signed a declaration asking three Dutch to take a stand against antisemitism despite threats.

In recent days, her party’s headquarters was vandalized by anti-Israel protesters with slogans accusing the ChristianUnion of supporting and financing “genocide.”

Bikker and others urged the Dutch not to be intimidated by antisemitism. “History taught us that we must support our fellow Jewish Dutch citizens,” Van der Plas said.

But there are fears her words will do little to change attitudes, including in the Amsterdam suburb town of Amstelveen, where a commemoration was held at the National Dachau Monument named after the Nazi camp.

“MODEL CAMP”

Dachau was described as a “model camp” established by Germany’s Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the 1930s to train most camp commanders. It had some 170 subsidiary camps, according to historical records.

The Dutch Dachau Committee aims to honor those who lost their lives there or in another death camp and “to warn against national socialism and dictatorship,” especially in 2024.

Amstelveen Mayor Tjapko Poppens laid the first wreath at the monument in the Amsterdam Forest, located in Amstelveen territory.

Many followed after him, including school children, some of whom read poems.

They worried that the “‘never again’ message about the mass murder of Jews seems to have been forgotten at a time of rising antisemitism. “Let’s get up before it’s too late” was a central message.

Poppens listened to, among others, the mayor of the Dutch city of Leeuwarden, Sybrand van Haersma Buma, whose grandfather was murdered in the Neuengamme camp in northern Germany.

For the surviving relatives, it is still war, was his message. “At this monument, the suffering of the past becomes the warning of today,” he said.
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Photo: The Amstelveen Mayor Tjapko Poppens (center) and others gather at the Dachau Monument in the Amsterdam Forest amid concerns about rising antisemitism. Johan Th. Bos for Worthy News/Amstelveenblog.nl

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