NOS News•today, 12:37
Things are “really going in the wrong direction” in the Netherlands with increasing anti-Semitism. This was said by outgoing Prime Minister Rutte prior to the Council of Ministers this morning.
“I am very concerned that people with a Jewish background are currently being harassed because of that background and because of the situation in Israel,” Rutte said. “That person has nothing to do with that.”
According to the Prime Minister, the question is not so much what ‘The Hague’ will do about this, but that society must “take it on collectively”. “We are one of the most open countries in the world. That’s part of calling each other to account about behavior.”
Terrorist
Rutte referred, among other things, to the disruption of a performance by Lenny Kuhr last weekend by pro-Palestinian activists. She was called a terrorist and accused of genocide.
Following this incident, State Secretary Gräper (Culture) was called to the House of Representatives on Tuesday. She then said that a statement from the cabinet would be made after today’s cabinet meeting.
Many MPs thought that was a weak response and later that day, thirteen of the fifteen parties emerged from the Chamber with a joint call to “stand up” against hatred of Jews. “Let no one be silent anymore, stop anti-Semitism now,” they wrote, among other things.
Since Hamas’s attack on Israel in early October last year and the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip, the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the Netherlands has increased sharply.
