The number of antisemitic incidents in the Netherlands has increased by no less than 818 percent since the massacre in Israel by Hamas on October 7.
The number of incidents has been compared with the monthly average of the past three years.The enormous spike in antisemitism in the Netherlands is consistent with trends in other countries: an increase in anti-Jewish incidents has also been visible in the United Kingdom, France and Germany since the Hamas attack.
There is a disturbing number of antisemitic expressions, especially in schools. For example, a Jewish boy at school was threatened with a knife and hit on the head with a bottle, with the perpetrators calling the boy a ‘cancer Jew’. An Israeli girl hears from two classmates: “If there is a cancerous Jew in this school, I am going to shoot him, I don’t want that kind at school.” Calling ‘cancer Jew’ and making Hitler salutes has taken place at several schools, as well as bullying and insults in WhatsApp conversations and personal messages on social media.
Jewish organizations and individuals are bombarded with antisemitic emails and private messages such as “As expected of hypocritical Jews, the hospital in Gaza has been bombed. What disgusting people you are” or “Especially with a past as Holocaust survivors, you should know better, but you are no better”. Similar incidents take place by telephone, in which people regularly call for Hitler to have finished his work.CIDI has reported ten of the many incidents that have been received in recent months. One of these was against the Instagram account Cestmocro, which does not remove seriously antisemitic posts.
The figures only include reports that meet the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Criticism of Israel is not included in the figures. General antisemitic statements on social media are also not included, unless they are made via a private message, i.e. directly to a person. Antisemitism is rampant online. Particularly on social media channels such as Instagram and TikTok, there is virtually no moderation of antisemitic comments posted.
Although we saw an increase in the number of antisemitic incidents during previous conflict periods, it has never been as significant as it is now. It is very worrying that Jews in the Netherlands are held responsible for conflicts taking place in the Middle East. It seems as if Israel is being used to beat Jews. Time-honored conspiracy theories are being recycled and are back with a vengeance.
