While antisemitism is on the rise throughout Europe, Chief Rabbi of the Netherlands Binyomin Jacobs points to an important difference between now and the 1940s: “The government is not antisemitic.”
AMSTERDAM POGROM
(ILTV)
Rabbi Jacobs explained that people who are pro-Palestinian or support the creation of a Palestinian state should not be confused with those who are antisemitic, though he acknowledged that the lines between anti-Zionism and antisemitism are becoming blurred.
The rabbi also commented on a recent incident in which a group of Israelis were violently beaten in Amsterdam after a soccer game because they were from Israel. He said he does not consider it a pogrom.
"A pogrom is organized by the government or by the church,” he emphasized. “There is no connection between the government and what happened.”