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The Netherlands’ Moral Mirror Is Cracking
A view shows the Peace Palace, which houses the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in The Hague, Netherlands, April 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
For decades, Israel viewed the Netherlands as one of its most reliable European friends, a nation whose moral compass — forged in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust — pointed firmly against antisemitism and toward Israel’s right to exist in peace.
Dutch diplomacy was measured, its civil society was open, and its historical consciousness ran deep.
But that image of the Netherlands has begun to fracture. Since the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, and the ensuing war, the Netherlands has witnessed a surge of anti-Israel rhetoric, antisemitic incidents, and violent protests that have shaken Jewish communities and confounded Israelis who long saw the Dutch as allies in both memory and morality.
The numbers tell a sobering story
The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) has reported an 818% increase in antisemitic incidents compared to the pre-October 7 average.
In 2024 alone, 421 incidents were recorded, the highest since the watchdog began systematic monitoring.
These are not abstract statistics; they represent Jewish families harassed, synagogues threatened, and Israelis attacked on Dutch streets.
One shocking example was the “Jew-hunt” in Amsterdam after the Ajax vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv match in November 2024.
What should have been a sporting event spiraled into open violence: Israeli fans chased through the streets, attacked by mobs on scooters, assaulted simply for being visibly Jewish or Israeli. The term “Jew-hunt” was not invented by the press; it came from officials describing what they saw. For many Israelis, this was not a local disturbance, it was a moral alarm bell ringing from a country they once saw as safe ground.
From moral clarity to moral confusion
How did this happen? Why would a nation that still teaches Anne Frank’s story with pride see antisemitism return so visibly to its streets?
Part of the answer lies in the Dutch self-image. The Netherlands prides itself on tolerance, free speech, and moral independence. In recent years, however, those same virtues have created fertile ground for extremism to hide behind “activism.” The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, long a subject of heated debate, has become a proxy battlefield for identity politics, post-colonial guilt, and populist anger.
When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, murdering 1,200 people and abducting hundreds, the global narrative quickly shifted, especially online. In Dutch cities, massive protests filled the streets, some peaceful, many not. Chants of “From the river to the sea” echoed in public squares. At first glance, these may appear as calls for Palestinian statehood. But in practice, they too often turned into calls for Israel’s elimination, and sometimes, for violence against Jews.
The Dutch demographic landscape also plays a role. The country’s growing communities with roots in Muslim-majority countries often bring with them deep identification with the Palestinian cause. That, combined with a small and highly visible Jewish population (less than 1% nationwide), has produced an imbalance in public discourse.
In many cities, Jewish students now report hiding their identity, removing Stars of David, or avoiding public events for fear of harassment.
The power of media and the failure of nuance
Dutch media coverage has also shifted. Complex Israeli security dilemmas are often flattened into emotional images of Gaza’s suffering, stripped of the context of Hamas’ terror infrastructure or its strategy of human shields. Social media compounds the problem, turning outrage into performance, and moral judgment into tribal belonging.
When the moral conversation becomes binary, oppressor versus oppressed, nuance dies first, and Jewish safety follows. This is not about silencing criticism of Israeli policies; it is about recognizing the line between critique and hate, a line that in the Netherlands, like across Europe, has grown dangerously blurred.
A legacy betrayed
There is something deeply tragic about this Dutch transformation. The Netherlands, more than most European nations, has wrestled publicly with its wartime past, with its collaboration, its resistance, and its guilt. Out of that reckoning grew an ethos of “never again,” not just for Jews, but for all peoples. Yet today, that moral inheritance is being hollowed out by selective empathy.
It is one thing to criticize a government; it is another to chase Jews through the streets of Amsterdam. It is one thing to advocate for Palestinian rights; it is another to vandalize offices of Christian organizations that support Israel, accusing them of “backing genocide.” Such behavior is not protest; it is persecution reborn under new slogans.
The test for Dutch democracy
The Netherlands now faces a test not unlike the one that Europe faced in darker times: Will it confront antisemitism wherever it appears, even when it wears the fashionable mask of “anti-Zionism”?
If yes, that means stronger political leadership, consistent law enforcement, and educational courage — and teaching students to distinguish between political dissent and ethnic hatred. It also means insisting that free speech does not include the freedom to terrorize Jewish citizens.
If the Netherlands wants to remain the moral compass it once claimed to be, it must first look in the mirror and admit that the image reflected there is no longer as clear as it once was.
Because the question Israelis now quietly ask is not whether the Netherlands still supports Israel’s right to exist. It’s whether Dutch society still remembers why that right matters.
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2 men found guilty in UK of plotting Islamic State-inspired antisemitic terror attack
Two men inspired by Islamic state ideology were convicted on Tuesday in Manchester, England, of plotting what prosecutors said could have been one of the deadliest antisemitic attacks in British history.
Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, were both found guilty of preparing terrorist acts between December 2023 and May 2024. Saadaoui’s brother, Bilel Saadaoui, 36, was found guilty of failing to disclose information about an act of terrorism.
Prosecutors told jurors that Saadaoui and Hussein had “embraced the views” of the Islamic State and had a “visceral dislike” of Jewish people.
By the time of his arrest in May 2024, following an undercover operation, Saadaoui had arranged the purchase and delivery of two assault rifles, an automatic pistol and almost 200 rounds of ammunition for the attack. The pair had planned to infiltrate a march against antisemitism in the Manchester city center before unleashing their attack.
“Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein intended to target members of the Jewish community in an evil act born out of hate and intolerance,” said Assistant Chief Constable Robert Potts, who is in charge of Counter-Terrorism Policing in northwest England, in a statement. “If they had been successful then what followed would have been devastating and potentially one of the deadliest terrorist attacks to ever take place on UK soil.”
The convictions come as threats associated with the Islamic State appear to be on the rise. Earlier this month, two men who authorities said were motivated by “Islamic State ideology” killed 15 people after opening fire on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney.
In October on Yom Kippur, another man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State carried out an attack on a Manchester synagogue during which two people were killed.
Last week, three Toronto men, including one with alleged links to ISIS, were arrested for allegedly attempting kidnappings targeting Jews and women.
Ken McCallum, the head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5, said in October that MI5 and British police had “disrupted 19 late-stage attack plots” since 2020.
“Al Qaeda and Islamic State are once again becoming more ambitious, taking advantage of instability overseas to gain firmer footholds,” said McCallum. “They are both personally encouraging and indirectly inciting would-be attackers in the West.”
Following the convictions Tuesday, the Anti-Defamation League called for “vigilance” from governments and local law enforcement.
“While some plots are thankfully thwarted, others are not, including the recent terror attack in Bondi Beach,” the ADL wrote in a post on X. “The threat of antisemitic terrorism is real and ongoing and vigilance by governments and law enforcement agencies is crucial to keep Jewish individuals and institutions safe globally.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post 2 men found guilty in UK of plotting Islamic State-inspired antisemitic terror attack appeared first on The Forward.
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Self-appointed chief rabbi of Saudi Arabia says he was denied entry at border
The self-appointed chief rabbi of Saudi Arabia, Rabbi Jacob Herzog, said he had been denied entry to the Gulf nation.
“With profound regret, I announce that I was barred from entering the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia upon arrival, despite holding a valid entry visa, and despite having spent a significant portion of the past years living and serving in this blessed Kingdom,” Herzog wrote Monday in a post on X.
While the country has no official Jewish community, Herzog has in recent years marketed himself as an emissary for the country’s small population of Jewish visitors and residents, a role that has put him at odds with a community accustomed to flying under the radar of the conservative state.
“This incident has left me — against my will — distant from the Jewish community that I serve with love within the Kingdom, a community that has lived under the spirit of peace and goodwill embodied by the Saudi royal system and the great Saudi people,” continued Herzog.
While Saudi Arabia typically does not allow Israeli passport holders entry to the country, the New York-born Herzog’s dual citizenship in the United States and Israel appears to have earned him leniency in his travels between his home base in Jerusalem and the kingdom.
Herzog’s rejection comes as relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel have been strained in recent months amid the fragile ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
While President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed for the country to enter a normalization agreement with Israel, Saudi leaders have remained steadfast that a path for Palestinian statehood is a key condition for entering any agreement.
“Saudi Arabia is not considering a normalization deal with Israel. Should Israel become a normal country with normal acceptance of international law, then Saudi Arabia will consider normalization,” Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, Prince Turki bin Faisal, told the The Times of Israel on Sunday.
Herzog said that he did not receive any explanation for the decision from authorities at the airport or the country’s Ministry of Interior, but claimed he was “convinced that this measure did not emanate from the Royal Court or from the Saudi government itself.”
“Despite my complete trust in the integrity of Saudi institutions and the sound intentions of its leadership, I cannot ignore the possibility of the existence of dark forces seeking to obstruct the path of reform, openness, and tolerance that the Kingdom is pursuing with determination,” said Herzog.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Interior did not respond to requests for comment from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Herzog’s rejection.
While Herzog markets kosher foods at Saudi grocery stores and offers his services as a mohel on his website, Saudi Arabia legally forbids practicing religions other than Islam in public.
In March 2024, a U.S. government delegation on international religious freedom ended a visit in Saudi Arabia early after a rabbi on the trip was asked to remove his kippah while in public.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Self-appointed chief rabbi of Saudi Arabia says he was denied entry at border appeared first on The Forward.
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Coast Guard again retracts policy that would downgrade swastika as hate symbol, clearing path for new leader’s confirmation
After renewed objections from Jewish groups, the U.S. Coast Guard again removed language referencing a proposed policy that would have stopped classifying swastikas as hate symbols.
The retraction late Thursday, the second such reversal of the Coast Guard’s swastika policy, was enough to prompt Jewish Sen. Jacky Rosen to drop the hold she had placed on Admiral Kevin Lunday’s nomination to permanently lead the organization.
“While I continue to have reservations about the process by which this happened and the confusion created by leadership at the Department of Homeland Security, I am pleased to see that the policy now directly refers to stronger language against swastikas and nooses,” Rosen wrote on the social network X. A Democrat from Nevada, Rosen had placed the hold together with non-Jewish Democrat Tammy Duckworth, a military veteran.
Lunday was swiftly confirmed by voice vote late that evening, prior to the Senate’s adjournment for the holiday season.
Rosen wrote of Lunday, “I appreciate his lifetime of service to our country and look forward to working with him to continue to strengthen anti-harassment policy at the Coast Guard.”
The Coast Guard upset and confused many Jewish groups by issuing and then reversing statements about whether swastikas and nooses would still be considered hate symbols or downgraded to “potentially divisive.”
After The Washington Post reported in November that the downgrade was happening, the Coast Guard denied the reports and Lunday — then the acting head — reassured Jewish leaders the policy would not go through. He issued an explicit directive on the subject.
Yet last week the Post reported that the Coast Guard had gone ahead and made the change in its updated harassment manuals, triggering fierce backlash at a moment when other actions by President Donald Trump’s second administration have raised concerns about antisemitic sentiment.
Jewish leaders, including the heads of the Union for Reform Judaism’s advocacy center and Jewish War Veterans, questioned how such a policy could have gone through despite Lunday’s directive. Some told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Lunday should not lead the Coast Guard if he was truly unaware of the policy change.
Yet Rosen appeared to feel differently after Lunday took additional steps Thursday. According to The Washington Post, Lunday issued a new directive to say the revisions involving swastikas and nooses had been “completely removed” from the policy manual. A copy of the manual itself now obscures the language with a large black bar.
In her statement lifting the hold on Lunday, Rosen added that, because she was still not satisfied with how the swastika issue was handled, she would be placing a hold on a different nomination: Sean Plankey, who had sought to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a component of the Department of Homeland Security.
“I will keep that hold in place until we see that this new policy works to protect our men and women in uniform from racist and antisemitic harassment,” Rosen wrote. Homeland Security also oversees the Coast Guard.
Plankey was not confirmed before the Senate adjourned, and his nomination would have to be renewed by Trump in the new year.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Coast Guard again retracts policy that would downgrade swastika as hate symbol, clearing path for new leader’s confirmation appeared first on The Forward.