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Dr.Gerstenfeld’s latest article is published here with the author’s consent…

 

Jews experience widespread Antisemitism in The Netherlands

 

Dr.Manfred Gerstenfeld

A recent survey revealed a slew of data on Dutch Jewish perceptions of antisemitism in their country. The study was carried out by the TV program, EenVandaag, with the assistance of the Jewish umbrella organization, CJO and the Jewish Social Organization (JMW).1

 

Due to the fact that the interviewees were mainly selected among those who belong or are known to Jewish organizations the figures in the study are not statistically representative. Organized Jewry does not include more than 30% of those who self-identify as Jews in the Netherlands. As far as relative data are concerned, the survey provides however important indications of the widespread antisemitism in the Netherlands. Mentioning the numbers found shows thus mainly the relative importance of issues.

 

In 2015 during his parliamentary campaign, Prime Minister Mark Rutte (Liberals) said that the Netherlands was an “incredibly marvelous” country.2 Such hyperbole is easily disproven when looking at the experiences of Jews in the Netherlands. The survey’s findings provide an unpleasant perspective on the Dutch reality.

 

Seventy-seven percent of Jews interviewed said that antisemitic sentiment is rife in the Netherlands. When asked where these anti-Jewish sentiments appear, 82% responded “social media”. Fifty-nine percent referred to the media, i.e., many of the Dutch TV stations and leading newspapers.

 

Fifty-two percent of respondents said that antisemitism manifests itself in the streets and 42% in politics. Although respondents were not asked to identify which political parties promote antisemitism, it is evident that the prime promoter is a small Muslim party, Denk, which holds 3 seats out of 150 in the Lower House of the Parliament.3 In 2017, CIDI (The Center for Information and Documentation about Israel) has accused Denk of antisemitism in parliamentary questions and remarks.4

 

The Dutch parliament recently voted in favor of a motion to recommend use of the definition of antisemitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The proposal was opposed by Denk, Labor, (PvdA) and the left socialist party (SP). Furthermore also by the left liberal D66 party, which is a member of the government coalition as well as the uniquely Dutch phenomenon, The Party for the Animals. 5

 

The survey also asked participants to identify who is responsible for the anti-Jewish sentiment. Seventy-seven percent of the respondents saw education as the culprit, 71% blamed the media, and 65% believed that multiculturalism in the Netherlands is at fault. The latter can best be translated as “part of the Dutch Muslims.” The Muslim population accounts for approximately 6% of the about 17 million Dutch citizens. Forty-seven percent of respondents blamed the schools for antisemitism and 40% saw the political system as a culprit.

 

Frequent efforts are made, mainly by the Dutch left, to claim that anti-Israelism and antisemitism are different phenomena. After the Holocaust many people consider antisemitism not to be politically correct. Thus antisemitism often morphs into anti-Israelism, which does not carry the same stigma. Yet many claims against Israel and how the country is singled out are clear mutations of antisemitic motifs.

 

One can easily identify antisemitism when Israel is criticized for acts while other nations with similar behavior are not blamed. The definition of antisemitism of the IHRA which required approval in its Board of all the 32 member countries – including the Netherlands – states that this singling out is an explicit example of antisemitism.6

 

Dutch historian Els van Diggele who spent a year interviewing people in the Palestinian territories wrote a book, We hate each other more than the Jews. Referring to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict she says: “The picture I obtained from conversations with cooperative Palestinians is greatly different from what we have been told during the past fifty years by the State News Service NOS and the major Dutch newspapers.”7

 

The findings of the survey also show the overlap of antisemitism and anti-Israelism. Respondents were asked what antisemitic experiences they have encountered. 89% answered that they have dealt with reproaches about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. How can one make, if one is a honest person, such a reproach against a Dutch Jew who has never been a citizen of Israel, and who has no voting rights there? If one were to interview Italians living in the Netherlands at the time of the Berlusconi government, how many of them would have heard reproaches about what was going on in Italy? Italians abroad have voting rights in Italy but few if any at all would have been confronted in this manner.

 

Other antisemitic experiences mentioned include: 86% heard stereotypes about Jews, 71% were subjected to nasty remarks about Jews in general, 51% experienced nasty remarks about Jews in the Second World War, 34% had been insulted because they are Jews and 11% have experienced violence because they are Jews. In the recently published study on European antisemitism by the Fundamental Rights Agency, the overwhelming majority of Dutch Jewish interviewees said that antisemitism in the country has increased in the last five years.8

 

Dutch Jews are often reluctant to publicly mention the problems of Islamization. One of the rare exceptions is liberal rabbi Tamara Benima. She told the Volkskrant daily that a Jew in Europe is vulnerable. Benima mentioned that Europe has an influx of migrants who have been brainwashed with antisemitism. Benima added that while immigrant Muslims were instructed to treat women as equals and that it was forbidden to beat up homosexuals, they were not told that they should develop different attitudes toward Jews than they were taught in the countries they came from. She said that one can no longer visit the Western part of Amsterdam [where many Muslims live] if one is recognizable as a Jew.9

 

Some individual reactions of respondents were also mentioned. One interviewee said that Israel is very often presented in the media as the bogeyman and blamed for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Subsequently, people address me personally about Israel’s acts by saying ‘you’ have acted wrongly.”

 

Another individual reaction was: “My neighbor said that I only live here because they forgot to gas my family.” Yet another said: “I have been threatened at my door with a knife. Fortunately only my car was vandalized with a swastika.” Finally there was broad agreement among the interviewees that the word “Jew” has become a curse word in the Netherlands.

 

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