Netherlands Facing Antisemitism Crisis

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent, Worthy News

AMSTERDAM (Worthy News) – A new report warned Thursday that the Netherlands faces an “antisemitism crisis,” with the number of attacks targeting Jews increasing to record levels.

The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI), the Jewish community watchdog, documented “421 antisemitic” attacks last year, surpassing by 11 percent the previous all-time high reported in 2023.

The data reflect “an antisemitism crisis, which requires crisis management measures,” wrote CIDI.

The Dutch government’s National Coordinator for Combating Antisemitism, Eddo Verdoner, called the reality reflected in the data “shameful” but added that antisemitism is becoming more openly tolerated because perpetrators are no longer ashamed.

“I hear heartbreaking stories from children, students, and adults who are harassed and mocked because of their Jewish identity. They hide a Star of David necklace, don’t dare to wear a kippah, or conceal their Jewish background out of fear,” Verdoner said in reaction to the CIDI report.

Several violent incidents, including those mentioned in the annual report, occurred on November 7-8, 2024.

COORDINATING ATTACKS

On those dates, hundreds of Muslim men participated in a series of attacks on Israelis who were in Amsterdam for a soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and a local team.

In coordinating the attacks on instant messaging platforms and online, several perpetrators referred to the action as a “Jews hunt” and used antisemitic rhetoric.

The attacks, seen as Europe’s largest coordinated pogrom against the Jewish community, shocked Dutch Jews and others.

Researchers suggested that the assaults underlined the level of hostility toward Jews within Muslim immigrant populations and perpetrators’ ability to use technology to coordinate attacks in real time while bypassing authorities.

“The most dramatic increases were seen in public spaces, where antisemitic incidents surged by 45 percent,” CIDI added in a statement about its report, published on Israel’s national Holocaust commemoration day. “Visibly Jewish individuals were increasingly subjected to verbal abuse, threats, and harassment,” according to the report.

Vandalism targeting Jewish property rose by 44 percent, including the tearing down of mezuzahs from doorposts and the desecration of Jewish cemeteries and memorials. At the same time, Jewish students are reportedly avoiding university lectures out of fear of hostilities.

MORE INCIDENTS

From 2012 to 2022, the annual average tally of antisemitic incidents documented by CIDI was 138. In the last two years, reports have spiked by 305 percent, CIDI explained.

CIDI urged the Dutch government to adopt a more forceful and consistent approach to combating antisemitism.

In the Netherlands, the Nazis and their collaborators murdered at least 75 percent of the Jewish population of about 140,000 people during the Holocaust.

Fast forward, “We must not normalize this surge [of antisemitism],” a CIDI spokesperson said in a statement about the report, warning against relying solely on Holocaust education.

CIDI suggested greater enforcement in schools and online platforms and “cutting funding to institutions that discriminate against Jewish artists.”

It added that the government should fight “extremist groups that incite hate” with “a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitic speech and violence” and “mandatory transparency about online offenders.”

The Netherlands is now home to about 40,000 Jews, according to estimates.

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