Rotterdam – Soccer fans in the Netherlands used a picture of child victims of the Holocaust to taunt a
rival team in what Dutch activists against racism called a new low for antisemitic
rhetoric in sports.
The photo featuring two toddlers
wearing a yellow star was widely circulated on Twitter under the hashtag #anti020week.
The digits are the Amsterdam-area dial code, which in soccer jargon references
the city’s main soccer club, Ajax. The picture, in which one child appears to
be nearing tears, also featured the caption “When 020 had only one star.”
The children pictured, Avram and
Emanuel Rosenthal, 5 and 2 years old respectively, were rounded up to be
murdered shortly after their picture was taken in Lithuania in 1944.
Ronny Naftaniel, the executive vice chair of CEJI, a
Brussels-based Jewish organization promoting tolerance through education, also
expressed his “shock” at the imagery.
“Feyenoord supporters, for once leave Jews alone if you must taunt
Ajax,” Naftaniel said.
Another image shared on Twitter en masse features text resembling
the health notice on cigarette boxes that reads “smoking will kill you, so free
packs for any Ajax Jew!”
