The Dutch Jewish Federation is making a formal police complaint against the organisers of an anti-Israel demonstration in The Hague this weekend, where some participants carried banners equating Israel with the Nazis.

Jewish organisations also wants to meet the city’s mayor Jozias van Aartsen to find out why he did not take tough action against the ‘spreading of hatred and calls to violence’, the Telegraaf reports.

‘Freedom of speech is a greater good and should be cherished,’ the Telegraaf quoted the organisation as saying. ‘But mayors have the obligation to protect all residents. It is unacceptable that the mayor allows this behaviour’.

Esther Voet, of the Israel information centre CIDI, told the paper it is ‘scandalous’ that Nazi symbols were being used by demonstrators. She also condemned the appearance of two local politicians – Amsterdam Labour stalward Fatima Elatik and The Hague local party councillor Fatima Faid.

According to a spokesman for Van Aartsen, the police ordered the demonstration organisers to remove the flags as soon as they were shown and this was done.

Peace

Several thousand people took part in the demonstration on the Spuiplein in the centre of The Hague on Saturday.

The demonstration was addressed by Palestine’s ambassador to the Netherlands. ‘Thank you for your resistance to the occupation. These are difficult weeks for Palestinians. Children are lying under the rubble,’ RTL news quoted him as saying.

He called on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the fighting and give the Palestinians back their independence. ‘Peace comes through justice, not through repression,’ he said.

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