Dutch Jewish group lobbies for extra security following Paris attack

The Dutch Jewish lobby group CJO has urged its members to write to city and town mayors calling on them to beef up security at Jewish institutions, the NRC reports.

‘Now that Jewish targets in Belgium and France are being guarded by the army, the question is “why not in the Netherlands”,’ states the draft letter, a copy of which is now in the hands of the NRC.

CJO spokesman Ron van der Wieken told the NRC there are no concrete threats but that there is an increased feeling of being under threat.

He said he expected some sections of the Dutch Jewish community would send the letter while others would not. ‘It is not so much about the letter. It is about raising the issues with local government,’ he said.

Amsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan is thought to have received the letter but told a talk show last week he did not want soldiers on the streets. ‘We must not become a police state,’ he said.

Last week, some Jewish communities took action themselves following the attacks in France and the anti-terrorist action in Belgium.

Schools

For example, a Jewish school in Amsterdam was closed for a day.

Amsterdam is home to the biggest Dutch Jewish community and placed permanent police surveillance points close to the main Jewish institutions after the attack on the Jewish museum in Brussels last May.

Efforts by MPs from the two minor religious parties ChristenUnie and SGP to get more government funding to boost security at Jewish institutions failed to gather enough support in parliament earlier this week, the NRC says.