Sentence anti-Semites to visit WWII museums, concentration camps: parliamentarians
People who commit anti-Semitic offenses should be sentenced to an educational visit to the National Holocaust Museum or a Second World War concentration camp, according to the VVD and D66. Such punishments are already possible under Dutch law but are rarely imposed. The two parties want the Justice Minister to investigate why, RTL Nieuws reports.
Reports of anti-Semitism in the Netherlands have been increasing since the war in Gaza. Last year, the police received 880 reports, over 300 more than the year before.
“It is terrible that a Jewish child walks down the street and is then told that all Jews must be gassed,” D66 parliamentarian Mpanzu Bamenga told the broadcaster. “But it is an example of what is happening in the Netherlands, and it must be punished.”
Perpetrators of anti-semitism usually get community service. “But what we want is that an educational measure is also added as a special condition. For example, to visit the National Holocaust Museum or go to Camp Westerbork,” VVD MP Ulysse Ellian said.
The MPs hope that a visit to these museums will really affect people. “And that they really understand the consequences of their actions,” Bamenga said. They asked Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz of Justice and Security to investigate why such measures are rarely imposed.
The plan can likely count on majority support in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament. Increasing anti-Semitism is a concern for many parties, especially with Remembrance Day and Liberation Day coming up next week.
