The Anne Frank Foundation, which combats Nazism, fascism and anti-Semitism, has a new chairman, Johan Lammers, a Protestant who is governor of the new province of Flevoland and a prominent member of the Labor Party.
Lammers succeeds Dick Houwaart, who retired Sunday after nearly 12 years as chairman. Houwaart, who is Jewish, said on leaving that there is very little active neo-Nazism in Holland today and attributed this, at least in part, to the information and educational activities of the Anne Frank Foundation.
One of its most recent pamphlets addresses the dangers of the extreme right-wing National Front party in France, headed by Jean-Marie Le Pen, whom many consider racist.
A panel discussion on “Israel and the Press” was organized by the Anne Frank Foundation here Sunday, in honor of Houwaart.
Four journalists, all of Jewish origin but of different political persuasions, discussed the reasons why Israel’s image has suffered the reasons why Israel’s image has suffered in the Dutch press and public opinion. No unanimous conclusions were reached.
Dutch Jews are troubled by the widespread criticism in Holland of Israel’s behavior toward the Palestinians, with many people considering Dutch Jews somehow responsible.
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