They already received hundreds of responses, placed an advertisement in major newspapers and attended the table On 1. If the goal was to get as much attention as possible, the initiators of Tegenantisemitisme.nl succeeded. This group – the majority non-Jewish, including Dutch celebrities Huub Stapel and Hans Teeuwen – calls on mayors to wear an orange yarmulke on King’s Day.
It started with a conversation in the pub, explains co-initiator Femmetje de Wind. “We were talking about the increase in anti-Semitic incidents, and whether we can’t do something about it. One of us suggested: what if we start a fun campaign that everyone can participate in, so that people can easily express their solidarity and sympathy for Jewish Dutch people?” That is how the campaign is intended: accessible, something that everyone can participate in, even if only for a short time. “Even if you put on a yarmulke for ten seconds and take a photo, you are already participating. We certainly don’t expect you to wear that yarmulke all day.”
A spokesperson for Mayor Femke Halsema has already indicated that she will not respond to the call – as have the mayors of Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague and Emmen. They follow the statement of the Dutch Society of Mayors: “This private initiative is based on good intentions to support the Jewish community. As mayors, we abhor any form of anti-Semitism and, where necessary, we propagate it. With or without yarmulke. However, we doubt whether the wearing of an orange yarmulke by (male) mayors on a national holiday is appropriate.”
Not a religious object
De Wind wants to make one thing clear: the yarmulke is not a religious object, so you don’t have to see it as a form of appropriation. “For example, the Torah is a holy book, but the yarmulke is not a holy object. This was once invented to comply with the command that men must cover their heads, but this can also be with a scarf or napkin; You can also throw away a yarmulke.” They therefore have no problem calling on women to wear the yarmulke. “We don’t want to make it dogmatic. It is purely a way to express your solidarity with, for example, the religious young people who wear a yarmulke every day and do not feel safe now.”
It is their own choice that mayors do not participate, says De Wind. “We have already sent the yarmulkes, so they don’t have to announce anything.” Yet there is one argument that she has a lot of difficulty with. “Some seem to think that an action like this would be ‘divisive’, that mayors should be neutral. But why divide if you say you are protecting a minority? You don’t take a political position, you just say: I support Jewish Dutch people who feel unsafe and threatened.”
Israel
You don’t have to guess for long why the action would be perceived as ‘divisive’: a statement of support for Jews is quickly interpreted as a statement of support for Israel because of the war in Gaza. “We are consciously not talking about that – this is purely about showing solidarity with each other.”
The advertisement also explicitly states that the action is not intended as support for Israel’s policies, but as a signal that ‘hatred of Jews and any form of discrimination have no place in the Netherlands’. De Wind: “Anti-Semitism also existed before the state of Israel existed. It is timeless, and a signal that there are dissatisfied people looking for a scapegoat. Unfortunately, history has shown that Jews are often singled out for this.”
