TIMES OF ISRAEL
Last straw: Amsterdam ‘Jew hunt’ triggers push for Dutch Jewish migration to Israel
Bart Schut
November 28, 2024

Maaike Smole, a 48-year-old college policy worker from the central Dutch city of Amersfoort, no longer has any hope that there is a future for Jews in her country. “It’s too late. The Netherlands are schluss,” she said, using a Yiddish term for “closed,” or “over.” “Education has failed, integration [of Muslim minorities] has failed. Respect for us Jews has disappeared and will never come back. There are simply too few of us, the other side is so much larger and more aggressive. All that’s left to do is to count down to our aliyah,” Smole said, using the Hebrew term for immigration to Israel. Smole’s feelings appear to reflect those of a growing number of Jews in the Netherlands — a community that has been in the country, once known for its religious and ethnic tolerance, for centuries. READ MORE