Dutch chief rabbi calls for lessons against anti-Semitism

“The main problem relating to anti-Semitism is the lack of education.”

By JONAH MANDEL
311_decoy Jew (photo credit: Associated Press)
311_decoy Jew
(photo credit: Associated Press)
A Dutch police initiative to go undercover as Jews to combat anti-Semitism will be futile unless it is backed by a greater emphasis on education within the Dutch public, Chief Rabbi of the Netherlands Binyomin Jacobs said on Monday.
“The main problem relating to anti-Semitism is the lack of education,” Jacobs said in a statement. “Today, there are many schools which simply skip the lessons relating to World War II and the Holocaust, since many teachers and principals fear a negative reaction from pupils who are from Muslim backgrounds.”
“It is too easy, however, to blame the Muslim community, when I have witnessed Dutch non-Muslim youngsters also shouting at me in the street,” Jacobs added.
Jacobs also stressed that alongside the rising anti- Semitism in the Netherlands, “there are many Dutch people who openly sympathize with the Jewish People.”
While noting that all new initiatives to combat anti- Semitism were welcome, Jacob recommended that the Dutch national and local governments “organize rabbis or volunteers from the Jewish community to visit schools so that the students will be able to meet us and talk to us.”