Netherlands: Antisemitic incidents surged by over 800% since Oct. 7

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The number of antisemitic incidents in the Netherlands is reported to have shot up by over 800% since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians and Israel’s military response to it, the Jerusalem Post reports.

The spike in incidents was reported by the Dutch-Jewish watchdog Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI), JPost said. The incidents recorded did not include antisemitic posts published on social media.

In its report CIDI said the number of antisemitic incidents that have been reported to it since the Israel-Hamas war is 818% higher than its monthly average recorded over the past three years. The CIDI recorded mezuzahs torn off doors and swastikas sprayed on windows, and frequent threats and verbal abuse. “It is very worrying that Jews in the Netherlands are held responsible for conflicts taking place in the Middle East,” read the CIDI report released on Tuesday. “It seems as if Israel is being used to beat Jews.”

In a separate statement, CIDI researcher and policy advisor Hans Wallage said the incidents have broadened in range as well as in numbers.

“I see way more variety of different incidents that I didn’t see before, and also more variety in the place where it happens,” Wallage told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “There are a lot of schools — elementary, high schools, universities — having way more incidents that I didn’t see before the 7th of October.”

While antisemitism has historically spiked during rounds of conflict between Israel and Palestinian terrorists, CIDI researchers said they had not never witnessed a surge of incidents like this before, JPost reports.

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