search

Amsterdam Jewish mother and children told they ‘should all be shot’

Woman tells police her family were called ‘cancer Jews’ by a man in the heavily Jewish Buitenveldert neighborhood

Illustrative: Dutch rabbis in the Amsterdam suburb of Buitenveldert. (David Serphos/JTA)
Illustrative: Dutch rabbis in the Amsterdam suburb of Buitenveldert. (David Serphos/JTA)

AMSTERDAM  — A Jewish woman from Amsterdam told police that a man shouted at her and her children that they “should all be shot” and called them “cancer Jews” before he got into a taxicab.

The incident occurred Wednesday in the heavily Jewish Buitenveldert neighborhood of Amsterdam, the Het Parool daily reported based on a complaint to police made by the 28-year-old woman, who was not named in the media, with help from the Federative Jewish Netherlands organization.

A witness wrote down the taxi’s license plate and gave it to police, who are investigating the incident, the report said. Police would not say whether the suspect implicated in the incident is a taxi driver or passenger.

Federative Jewish Netherlands on Twitter wrote on Thursday that the taxi belongs to TCA, one of Amsterdam’s largest taxi companies. The firm is now also investigating the incident internally, the report said.

In 2010, a TCA driver, a Dutch citizen of Turkish descent, placed red stickers on the side of his Mercedes car reading “Israel = terror country/state.” He was fired following that action.

Discrimination against Jews in the Netherlands nearly doubled in 2017, reaching a five-year high that accounts for 41 percent of all the xenophobic incidents recorded, according to a report published earlier this year by the the Dutch Public Prosecution Service. It listed 144 confirmed criminal offenses last year involving xenophobia, including intimidation, vandalism, assault and incitement to hate or violence.

Of those cases, 41 percent of incidents were “directed against Jews,” who account for 0.2 percent of the Dutch population. Another 7 percent were against victims for their “religion or way of life,” including Muslims. Criminal discrimination against homosexuals accounted for 8 percent of the 144 cases.

read more:
Never miss breaking news on Israel
Get notifications to stay updated
You're subscribed
image
Register for free
and continue reading
Registering also lets you comment on articles and helps us improve your experience. It takes just a few seconds.
Already registered? Enter your email to sign in.
Please use the following structure: [email protected]
Or Continue with
By registering you agree to the terms and conditions. Once registered, you’ll receive our Daily Edition email for free.
Register to continue
Or Continue with
Log in to continue
Sign in or Register
Or Continue with
check your email
Check your email
We sent an email to you at .
It has a link that will sign you in.