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.
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.
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