Sixty anti-Semitic incidents were reported in Holland during 1983, according to a survey conducted by a Dutch Jewish organization. The audit grew out of concern over the growth of religious and racial bigotry that has resulted from the rise of right wing extremist movements there.
Patterned after the annual audit of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States conducted by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, the Dutch survey was carried out by the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI), an organization based in The Hague which monitors and combats anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist activity in Holland.
According to Abraham Foxman, ADL’s associate national director and head of its international affairs division, the anti-Semitic incidents in Holland “are particularly disturbing because the Dutch Jewish community as been targeted by the extremist groups in a nation which has traditionally been known as being relatively free of discrimination against minorities.”
INCIDENTS CITED IN THE SURVEY
The CIDI survey showed that the incidents included:
* Seven court cases arising out of complaints by CIDi that Jewish citizens of the country have been the targets of boycotting practices.
* Nine court cases growing out of complaints by CIDI that Dutch Jews had been victimized in acts of violence or anti-Semitic slurs in publications.
* Four acts of vandalism against Jewish property.
* Anti-Semitic material contained in five books available in Holland during 1983.
* Five statements made by government officials that were anti-Semitic in nature.
* Ten separate distributions of materials — such as stickers, banners or badges — that were anti-Semitic in content.
* Three incidents involving threats against Dutch Jews.
BASIS FOR SOME OF THE INCIDENTS
Shimon Samuels, director of ADL’s European office based in Paris, said that judgements handed down in some of the lawsuits criticized outbreaks of anti-Semitism in the country and an “increasing insensitivity to its ramifications.”
Several of the incidents, he went on, involved anti-Semitism “clothed in anti-Zionism.” Other cases arose from the “uncritical manner” in which Nazi World War II persecution of Jews is portrayed in some publications circulating in Holland. These, he noted, “are examples of Holocaust revisionism–that is the attempt to deny, or cast doubt on, Nazi killings of Jews during World War II.”
Samuels said that the incidents tabulated in the CIDI report “are not exhaustive but only based on those which have been reported. Nevertheless, CIDI feels they are adequate to show that the Dutch Jewish community is justified in drawing attention to them and stating their concern.”
The CIDI report stressed that the anti-Semitic incidents should be seen in the context of other types of ethnic or religious bigotry that is on the rise in Holland which is directed against Indonesians, Surinamese, Turkish “guest” workers, and other minorities.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
