Parliamentarian: Use Orthodox Jews as Bait to Catch Aggressors

Ahmed Marcouch, a new parliamentarian on behalf of Labor, has suggested using Orthodox Jews (probably policemen dressed up as an ultra-Orthodox Jew) to serve as bait to catch anti-Semitic aggressors. He says that this is necessary because Jews in certain parts of Amsterdam cannot wear a skullcap without risk. The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) considers it a valid idea. Its director, Ronnie Naftaniel, said that nowadays “it is considered normal that people have to go with caps on their heads to hide their skullcaps”.
www.parool.nl/parool/nl/5/POLITIEK/article/detail/300064/2010/06/17/Cidi-steunt-plan-lok-Joden-Marcouch.dhtml

Television Presenter Promotes Conspiracy Theory of Jewish Politicians

Harry Mens, a Dutch TV presenter and businessman, has developed a conspiracy theory purporting that Jewish politicians will control whichever government will rule the Netherlands. According to Mens, participants in the invented conspiracy are Liberal parliamentarian Uri Rosenthal – who has been charged by Queen Beatrix to investigate what government could be formed –Labor leader, Job Cohen, as well as his party fellow Lodewijk Asscher – the acting mayor of Amsterdam. They are conspiring to work for a coalition led by the Liberals and Labor. The Jewish community has condemned Mens and without explicitly saying so indicated that his conspiracy theory is an old anti-Semitic motif. [Comment: The claim is even more ironic as in the last decade Cohen has repeatedly stressed that his being born Jewish is utterly meaningless to him. To prove this he has bent over backwards to accommodate Muslim immigrants and often looked the other way when they committed criminal acts. Asscher has Jewish roots though he himself is not Jewish].
http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/6954550/__Mens_onder_vuur_na_uitlatingen_over_joden__.html?sn=binnenland,buitenland

Wiesenthal Center: EU Should Intervene in Dutch Anti-Semitism

The Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a letter on Tuesday to EU Foreign Minister, Baroness Catherine Ashton, requesting the EU’s “intervention to investigate the rampant epidemic in anti-Semitic incidents in the Netherlands”. The letter mentioned that, among other incidents, during a commemoration ceremony in memory of the final transport of 3,000 Jewish children to their deaths bikers passing by shouted ‘Heil Hitler’ during the recitation of the mourner’s prayer. Hyves, the Dutch equivalent of Facebook, contains postings with numerous calls to “murder all Jews” and for “Hitler to finish the job”.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/06/15/2739618/wiesenthal-center-asks-eu-to-interveve-in-dutch-anti-semitism

NRC Daily: Anti-Semitism is Normal in Amsterdam not Incidental

The NRC daily has published an article on anti-Semitism in Amsterdam which states that it has become the norm rather than incidental. There are six neighborhoods in Amsterdam where Jews cannot wear a skullcap or clothes which identify them as such for fear of attack. A rabbi who lives in one of the better neighborhoods says that he goes out on the streets as little as possible because he almost always is insulted by Moroccans who shout at him: “Hitler apparently forgot one”. The rabbi says that many Jews have similar experiences in Amsterdam. The monitor of discrimination on the internet found that half of the 577 punishable internet statements in 2009 were against Jews. The article also said that if the monitor would have looked carefully at sites for Moroccans in the Netherlands, they could have easily added another 1,000 punishable anti-Semitic internet statements. [Comment: This situation developed almost entirely under the Mayor Job Cohen who served from January 2001 until March 2010 shortly after which he became leader of the Dutch Labor party].
http://brabosh.com/2010/06/13/antisemitisme-is-meer-dan-een-incident-het-is-weer-normaal/ (The original article appeared in NRC Handelsblad, 12 June 2010)

Pro-Israel Institution Receives Extreme Anti-Semitic Reactions

Elise Friedmann of the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) has told the daily Reformatorisch Dagblad that after the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla many tens of angry reactions were received. At least 10 of them were anti-Semitic, each of which refers to the Holocaust. An email and phone call of somebody said that “many gas chambers should be built.”
www.refdag.nl/nieuws/binnenland/sabbatsviering_weesp_geschrapt_na_dreiging_1_484010#

Anti-Semitism toward Elementary School Children During March

More and more schools are withdrawing from organized walking events due to the chaos there, as well as security problems and tensions. Dick Janneman of the North Holland Walking Association (NHWB) said that during the annual 4-day walking event in south Amsterdam children from the Jewish elementary school (Rosj Pina) are victims of aggression and insults. He said that this has happened mainly in the last five years and that “this is terrible but the reality of the situation.”
www.parool.nl/parool/nl/4/2010/article/print/detail/298569/Chaotische-taferelen-bij-avondvierdaagse.dhtml

Weesp: Synagogue Service Cancelled Due to Threats

The synagogue in Weesp cancelled its service last Saturday after the police informed members about threats received. The threats are believed to be related to the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla. The chairman of the Jewish community in the town which is Masorti (i.e. Conservative) Nicky Cohen said that the synagogue has standard security but in this case it possibly would not have been sufficient. (Comment: This is probably the first time since World War II that a synagogue service had to be entirely cancelled in Western Europe. In 2006 in the Swedish town of Malmö once a service could not take place in the synagogue but it was then moved elsewhere.).
www.nrc.nl/binnenland/article2560410.ece/Synagoge_schrapt_viering_sabbat_na_dreiging