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According to CIDI director Hanna Luden (61), the figures are remarkable because the number of incidents is usually high when there is a military conflict around Israel, as in the previous peak year 2014 (171 incidents). “That is not the case now. We do see that society is polarizing quickly, which may make people more inclined to swear at each other. It seems as if a limit has been exceeded. I see the explosive growth in the number of incidents and the absence of repentance as the most remarkable results of our investigation. ”
“Criticism of Israel can become very anti-Semitic”
The increase concerns both incidents against individuals and anti-Semitic incidents at sporting events and during demonstrations against Israel. Luden: “We are really concerned that criticism of Israel can become consciously or unconsciously very anti-Semitic. Anti-Semitic statements are regularly made on Dam Square in Amsterdam. “
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Hanna Luden, director of CIDI, finds that people who make anti-Semitic statements are hardly corrected anymore.
Ⓒ ANP
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Luden notes that people who make anti-Semitic statements are hardly corrected anymore. “I was particularly shocked by a broadcast of the radio program Gaan !, from BnnVara on NPO Radio 1, in which a man was interviewed who was allowed to speak out all prejudices about Jews for minutes. For example, he talked about “money-hungry Jews” and he said, “Those people really have to be eradicated, worldwide.” Without the presenter intervening. How is it possible, you think. “
Lack of knowledge
The presenter later apologized, but the incident fits into a broader context, Luden thinks. “We see that generations are now coming into positions, in the media, civil service, administration, politics, who know little about the Holocaust and the Second World War. Then something like that can apparently happen. A statement such as “Muslims are the Jews of our time” is also possible in that context, due to that lack of knowledge. “
She also sees a willingness in politics to recognize the problem. “Anti-Semitism is appointed as such more quickly. But we must understand that anti-Semitism is not a specific Jewish problem and concerns us all. It indicates polarization, racism, intolerance. We cannot accept that we live in a country where Jewish institutions must be guarded and Jews prefer not to show that they are Jewish. You can’t accept that, can you? “
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