After fans chant antisemitic slogans, Dutch chief rabbi to hold town hall
The crowd chanted "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas," before the match against the Ajax.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: APRIL 25, 2021 02:40Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs is seen with Arnhem Mayor Ahmed Marcouch at the Arnhem synagogue.(photo credit: RABBI JACOBS)
Following antisemitic slogans chanted by fans of the Arnhem-based Vitesse football club ahead of a match against Amsterdam's Ajax football club, Dutch religious officials are set to meet for a town hall to discuss how to move forward.The crowd chanted "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas," before the match against the Ajax.Dutch Chief Rabbi and chairman of the European Jewish Association’s committee for combatting antisemitism Binyomin Jacobs and the Muslim Mayor of Arnhem Ahmed Marcouch are set to lead the meeting with Vitesse fans, in a move supported by the football club's management.The meeting was arranged after Jacobs got in touch with the Marchouch immediately after the incident came to light. Both agreed that condemnation was not enough, but that a dialogue should be opened instead.Marchouch then got in touch with the Vitesse management to set up the discussion.“Clearly the chants are abhorrent and disgusting," said Jacobs. "They are ignorant and a twin attack on Jews: on Israel and on the Holocaust. The natural reaction is to condemn in the strongest possible terms. We, of course, do so."“But that on its own is not enough," he added. "We must be constructive, we must engage, we must educate so that those who chant what they think are throw-away lines in the spirit of rivalry, are fully aware of the weight of their words, of the damage and hurt that they cause.He concluded: "The mayor and I, a Jew and a Muslim are fully aware of the dangers of ignorant prejudice. And we are also fully aware that boxing people in with condemnation can just entrench positions into 'them and us,'" adding that, "This serves nobody’s interest. Our town hall meeting for which I am grateful to the mayor for initiating, will be a frank, and we imagine difficult, exchange of views. But an entirely necessary one.”
