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.”