Netherlands extra alert to safety of Jewish buildings

The Netherlands is “extra alert” to the security of Jewish buildings like synagogues and schools, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said after a National Security Council meeting on the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories, NOS reports. At least 700 people have been killed in Israel and over 400 in Gaza. Hamas terrorists also took some 130 people hostage.

The synagogue in Tilburg reported that threats against it increased after the Hamas terrorist group attacked Israel, and Israel struck back. A spokesperson for the synagogue in Middelburg told Omroep Zeeland that the Jewish community there will receive extra security for similar reasons.

Rutte said that the whole of the Netherlands, and the Jewish community in particular, is shocked by the attacks. “There is a lot of worry and fear” in the Jewish community, he said. He did not say what extra measures the authorities were taking around Jewish institutions. “We shouldn’t make people wiser than they are.”

“The Netherlands fully recognizes Israel’s right to defend itself,” Rutte repeated after the meeting. But unlike Austria, the Netherlands will not suspend financial support to the Palestinians, “We do not finance Hamas, a terrorist movement,” Rutte said. He pointed out that the Palestinians in Gaza have also been living “under the yoke” of Hamas for 16 years. “We must distinguish between ordinary Palestinians and Hamas.”

Rutte received many questions from journalists about symbolic forms of support, specifically, raising the Israeli flag. All Dutch Ministries did so on Monday morning, but several large cities opted against it. According to Rutte, the Netherlands does not give “flag instructions” for foreign flags. As for his reason for flying the Israeli flag at his Ministry of General Affairs, Rutte said: “250 people were slaughtered in cold blood at a festival. The least we can do is hang up that flag.”