Dutch Minister of Justice Andries van Agt has declared notarized statements certifying a person as non-Jewish are unlawful. The Justice Minister, speaking also on behalf of Foreign Minister Max van der Stoel, said he considers cooperation of notaries in establishing such declarations as unlawful and that it contravenes the spirit and meaning of the international agreement banning any form of racial discrimination.
Dutch tourists and businessmen traveling to certain Arab countries have recently been asked to furnish notarized statements that they are not Jewish. The Netherlands Brotherhood of Notaries Public declared yesterday that it was against this practice and asked its members not to comply with such requests. Van der Stoel last week cancelled an official visit to Saudi Arabia when the Saudians refused an entry visa to a young Jewish journalist.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
