Respect the May 4 traditions, mayors say in open letter

Almost all the Netherland’s mayors have signed a letter calling for action to combat rising anti-Semitism and to urge people to respect the May 4 traditions, when the Netherlands remembers its war dead.

Extra security measures are being brought in for the Remembrance Day ceremony on the Dam in central Amsterdam to exclude protest actions and the number of people allowed to attend will be slashed to 10,000.

The measures have been agreed by city mayor Femke Halsema and the police and are down to heightened tensions in society and a greater readiness by campaigners to take action, the Nationale Comité 4 en 5 Mei, which organises the commemorations, said earlier this month.

Now Halsema and 328 other mayors have signed an open letter calling on residents to respect this “important and valuable tradition”.

They point out that anti-Semitism has been rising since the coronavirus crisis, when conspiracy theorists used anti-Jewish stereotypes and trivialised the Holocaust, and rose again after Hamas attacked Israel.  

“Online, on the street, in the classroom, at the sports club and our universities and colleges: Jewish city and village residents everywhere are experiencing anti-Jewish intimidation and aggression,” the letter states. 

The mayors argue that while criticism of the Israeli government is not anti-Semitism in itself, “holding Jewish people responsible for the actions of that government just because they are Jewish is.”

And they called on their residents not to use slogans that hurt and intimidate others and to refrain from making make inappropriate comparisons with the Holocaust or Nazism.

Reports

Earlier this week it emerged that official reports of anti-Semitism were up by 60% last year and now account for nearly 10% of all discrimination complaints. And at the beginning of this month, Israel information centre Cidi said it had received 1,550 reports of anti-Semitic incidents last year, of which 379 were found by researchers to be anti-Semitic. 

The National Holocaust Museum and me: where past meets present

On Thursday it became clear that a majority of MPs back branding April 25 as a national day against anti-Semitism, which would include a major parliamentary debate on the issue.

Almost all MPs also want people who are convicted of anti-Semitism to undergo an educational programme as well. This is already an option in law but rarely used.