Wiesenthal Centre Open Letter to Dutch Prime Minister: “The Netherlands Cannot Allow Infamous BDS Campaign to Poison Universities!"

March 13, 2023

Paris-Groningen - In an open letter to Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, the European office of the Wiesenthal Centre urged the competent Dutch authorities to ban the upcoming “Israel Apartheid Week” at the University of Groningen (see poster below) and apparently on other campuses, organized by the infamous BDS Campaign (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, targeting exclusively Israel and the Jews).

DS, IAW and the misuse of terms such as “Apartheid” or "ethnic cleansing" - spuriously characterizing the situation in Israel and the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians or other Arab minorities - has become a typical example of antisemitism, hidden behind the mask of “anti-Zionism”.
 

The campaign is a blatant expression of demonization, delegitimation and double standards, that goes well beyond any criticism for the policies of one or another Israeli government - as it has been targeting the Jewish State for about 20 years running, whether the government had been centre-left, centre-right or right-wing, as is today.
 
Signatory of the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) Definition of Antisemitism since 1999, the Netherlands is well aware of how Jew-hatred has mutated and is currently represented. The IHRA Definition - adopted, among others, by the EU and all its member States - makes it clear that Memory of those exterminated during the Shoah does not magically safeguard the livelihood of today’s Jewish citizens. Recent years’ statistics are testimony to a rise in hostility and violence against the Jews... and much is imputable to these disgusting methods of incitement.
 
The BDS Campaign is a “soft power” tool that is meant to anaesthetize social conscience from the violence of “hard power” terrorism. The campaign implicitly recruits sympathizers for Palestinian Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP, as well as Iran-sponsored Hezbollah, or Islamist ISIS, Al-Qaeda and... READ MORE:
https://www.wiesenthal-europe.com/en/news-releases-2023/1002-wiesenthal-centre-open-letter-to-dutch-prime-minister-the-netherlands-cannot-allow-infamous-bds-campaign-to-poison-universities

For further information contact Dr. Shimon Samuels at csweurope@gmail.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.