Is the Netherlands too small for Muslims and Jews?

RNW, Martijn van Tol, 16 December 2010

(Photo: ANP)

"Dutch Jews had better emigrate to Israel," says Islam critic Frits Bolkestein. According to him, the anti-Semitic threats by Moroccan Muslims is great and will only increase.

A Moroccan politician has suggested that the police use officers dressed as Jews to catch the anti-Semites. Less than six months later, Frits Bolkestein has already given up hope and he advises practicing Jews to pack their bags and go to Israel.

Should Jews in the Netherlands indeed fear for their safety? Willem Wagenaar of the Anne Frank House has been investigating racial violence in the Netherlands for the past 15 years. He sees a big difference between the commotion and the facts.

"You see Jews being advised to leave the Netherlands and the deployment of undercover officers to reverse the violence. But, if you then look at how many incidents it involves, and what these incidents actually mean, you would never come out with this sort of stuff. In fact, you might ask whether being urged to emigrate on the basis of the figures just evokes more anxiety rather than solves the problem."

Decrease in incidents

Mr Wagnenaar’s research, which was published this week, shows that in recent years violence against Jews and Jewish institutions has fallen sharply. That there’s so much commotion can be explained by the sensitivity towards anti-Semitism in Dutch society. The Netherlands has a good reason for that: during the Second World War many Dutch Jews died.

As a result of this black page in Dutch history, media attention and political action are always on hand when it comes to protecting Jewish citizens. Following the recent debate in the media, Amsterdam decided to protect Jewish institutions with a subsidy of 135,000 euros.

Muslims becoming targets

The study also shows that violence against Muslims has increased in the last five years, again with a decline in 2009. This autumn shots were fired at one mosque, another was set on fire, and many Muslim places of worship received threatening letters. Concerned Muslims decided to keep watch overnight at their mosques.

Aissa Zanzan of the Amsterdam Union of Mosques admits there’s a problem, but is more concerned about the street abuse of individual Muslims.

"I get almost daily reports of such incidents, which are almost taken for granted. People don’t even notice any more when they are called names or spat at. Old women or young girls with a headscarf, who are very recognizable as Muslims, are especially the victims of verbal abuse. From things like "terrorist" or "backward Muslims" to "head off back to your own country."

According to Mr Zanzan, the perpetrators are usually white Dutch people, often with a low educational level.

Thick skin

Mr Zanzan find that in the Netherlands an anti-Islamic atmosphere prevails. "Kicking a Muslim is like scoring in the Netherlands", says the Moroccan. He gives the example of an Amsterdam alderman who sees headscarves as a symbol of oppression, and wants to ban them in schools. According Mr Zanzan this person doesn’t have a clue what’s going on in the head of an Amsterdam's Muslim woman. "The headscarf is just an essential part of a freely chosen identity. Denying her this freedom is the true oppression."

So Mr Zanzan concludes that the beleaguered Muslim can’t rely on support from the politicians.

"There is little reported and there is little spoken about. They have a thick skin. Some people think: 'we have long since been written off, we’re already undesirable, I'll just walk by without saying anything.’ That attitude has to do with being unable to respond, because these people are not articulate or fluent in the language."

Under the carpet

Former mayor of Amsterdam Job Cohen even argues that Muslims in the Netherlands are being excluded in the same way as happened with the Jews just before the Second World War. While the anti-Islamic atmosphere persists, and violence against Muslims is pushed under the carpet, the suggestions of emigration will persist for a while yet, but addressed to Muslims rather than Jews.

Racism and Extremism Monitor

Anne Frank

An Anne Frank Foundation project

The Racism and Extremism Monitor has been used since 1995 by the Anne Frank Foundation and carried out by Leiden University. The researchers report, amongst other things, on racially-motivated incidents of violence against persons or institutions. It might be a rock through the window of a mosque or synagogue, or a street attack on a Jews or Muslim.

Violence against Jews fell from 58 incidents in 2005 to 18 incidents in 2009. Violence against Muslims increased from 2005, but fell again in 2009. In that year, researchers counted 52 incidents. NB: there are in the Netherlands around 800,000 practising Muslims and approximately 7000 practising Jews (out of a total of 50,000 Jews).

Decrease in violence

Further, the monitor shows that the total number of racially motivated violent incidents over the past five years has been halved to 149, a historically low point since 1991. One reason for this is the decrease of right-wing groups in the Netherlands.

Offenders

The inventory for 2009 shows 81 cases of racial violence with sufficient information to trace the indigenous or ethnic identity of the suspects: In 70 cases the perpetrators were indigenous, and in 11 cases immigrants. Concerning anti-Semitic violence in 2009, researchers found the offender in one of the 18 incidents was an immigrant, and in two an indigenous person. In the 52 incidents against Muslims all the known perpetrators were of indigenous descent.

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