Antisemitism

Higher education students in Rotterdam were accused on Friday of sharing disturbing images and statements in chat groups, including material which was racist, anti-Semitic, and sexually offensive or harassing. The Hogeschool Rotterdam (HR) said the chat messages were shared in several education-related groups connected to the college and to the Erasmus University.

“We are very shocked by the cross-border nature of the messages,” said HR board chair Ron Bormans. “This behavior completely contravenes our norms and values ​​and is not tolerated by our applied sciences university.”

Swastikas and offensive texts were painted on a number of gravestones in the Jewish cemetery in Dordrecht. The user of the cemetery, the Jewish Congregation of Rotterdam, was informed of the vandalism on Monday, RTV Rijnmond reports.

The vandalism happened only days after the international commemoration of the liberation of extermination camp Auschwitz.

Multiple Dutch right-wing extremists were active for years on an international, fascist web forum that is linked to a violent neo-Nazi group and a number of murders in the United States, AD reports based on countless messages posted on the closed forum Iron March which hackers released late last year. The Dutch AD identified tried to set up a new organization in the Netherlands, and raged against gay people, Jews and Muslims.

American preacher Steven Anderson will not be allowed into the Netherlands and the rest of the Schengen area, State Secretary Mark Harbers of Justice and Security said on Wednesday in response to parliamentary questions. According to Harbers, the government is "taking strong action against extremist speakers who, by spreading their beliefs, restrict the freedoms of others or even incite hatred or violence", NOS reports.

The number of reports of discrimination filed in the Netherlands dropped from 11,479 in 2017 to 10,087 last year, the Public Prosecutor announced in its annual report on discrimination cases on Tuesday. As in previous years, most reports involved discrimination based on origin, NU.nl reports.

The Public Prosecutor's report includes figures from anti-discrimination facilities ADVs, the police, the online discrimination reporting center MiND and the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights. Only the Human Rights Institute saw an increase in reports last year, from 416 to 510. 

Kosher restaurant Ha Carmel on Amstelveenseweg in Amsterdam was again vandalized. The restaurant owners arrived on Friday morning to find a massive star of cracks on one of the windows. The police believe something was thrown at it, Het Parool reports.

The police are currently doing a forensic investigation at the restaurant.

Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security, Deputy Prime Minister Carola Schouten and acting Amsterdam mayor Jozias van Aartsen attended a Hanukkah celebration on Scheldeplein in Amsterdam's Rivierenbuurt on Sunday evening.

A meeting will be held in Amstelveen next week between city councilors and members from the Jewish- and Muslim communities in the city. The goal is to discuss the important issues for both groups in the run up to the parliamentary elections in March, Het Parool reports.

The meeting is organized by the Jewish Muslim Platform Amstelland, the Jewish-Islamic organization Mo&Moos and the Jewish Bendigamos. Amstelveen councilors of the VVD, PvdA, D66, SP, ChristenUnie, CDA and GroenLinks will attend.

Jewish activist group Tradition is Our Future (TOF) placed an ad in Dutch newspaper Trouw on Friday to protest against broadcaster VPRO inviting Belgian writer Dyab Abou Jahjah to appear on the television program Zomergaste

The Protestant Church in the Netherlands on Monday officially condemned the antisemitic statements made by Martin Luther. This is the first time the church does so.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs and Employment decided to address the people sending him antisemitic, racist and insulting comments on social media. In a long Facebook post he answered several of them by name.