Dutch TV program prompts call for anti-Semitism probe

JTA — A Dutch Jewish group has called on Holland’s government to probe anti-Semitism in the country’s high schools following the airing of interviews with immigrant pupils who praised the Holocaust and Jew hatred.

“Anti-Semitic biases seem much more widespread than earlier presumed among children of immigrant families, as well as native Dutch pupils,” the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, or CIDI, wrote to Jet Bussemaker, the country’s minister of education, culture and science. “A national survey is required to study the figures and numbers,” CIDI, a local watchdog on anti-Semitism, wrote on Feb. 25.

The letter was in reaction to a television program aired last week on the Nederland 2 television channel. In it, Mehmet Sahin, a researcher of Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit, interviews several high school students of Turkish descent.

“The interviewees appear to be partly aware of the Holocaust, but approve of the mass murder of Jews,” the Hague-based CIDI wrote.

One of the interviewees said on camera: “I am more than pleased with what Hitler did to the Jews.” Another said: “I hate Jews, period. Nothing you do will make me change my mind.”