Netherlands Identifies Anti-Semitic and Anti-Islam Sentiment

December 16 2010

Following a comment last week from politician Frits Bolkestein that “Dutch Jews had better emigrate to Israel” to avoid threat by Moroccan Muslims, Radio Netherlands Worldwide runs an article questioning whether “the Netherlands is too small for Muslims and Jews”. The article notes a decrease in incidents against Jews and Jewish institutions in recent years, but, as Willem Wagenaar of the Anne Frank House notes, an increase in sensitivity towards anti-Semitism in Dutch society. Aissa Zanzan of the Amsterdam Union of Mosques notes the problem of street abuse directed towards individual Muslims, and an anti-Islamic atmosphere prevailing in the country.

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