The Jewish community starts a campaign against anti-Semitism with posters in bus shelters, among other things. The reason is the increasing number of anti-Semitic incidents that the community sees.
“People who want to walk down the street with a Kippah or Star of David should just feel safe enough to do so,” said a spokesman for the Jewish Community of Amsterdam (NIHS), one of the initiators of the campaign.
The number of reported incidents increased as the conflict between Israel and Gaza flared up; the Israel Information and Documentation Center (CIDI) registered in May, in one week about 15 percent of the number of reported incidents that are normally recorded in a year. The CIDI wrote that “various Jewish institutions were bombarded with racist hate messages”.
“For example, things are shouted at demonstrations,” says the NIHS spokesperson. “Anti-Semitism has always been around, of course, but lately we’ve been hearing more and more of people taking off their kippah on trains or in public places for fear of being mistreated.”
‘Let our voice be heard’
The campaign is an initiative of three Jewish congregations: the NIHS, the Portuguese-Israelite Congregation and the Liberal Jewish Congregation. Thanks to crowdfunding, the campaign is not only being conducted in Amsterdam, but also in Haarlem, The Hague and Rotterdam. “It is often expected that the government will act more strongly against anti-Semitism, but in this case we as a community believe that we should make our voices heard. Just like everyone in the Netherlands, Jews should have the freedom to be who they are.”
–
