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The Halle Terrorist Attack, Yom Kippur, the 9th of October 2019

Only days after the suspected terrorist attack in Limburg, a town near the city of Frankfurt, in which several people were hurt, terror returned to the streets of Germany.

In the town of Halle in central Germany, a gunman tried to force his way into the synagogue before turning to passers-by and a Turkish Kebab shop. Sadly, two people were killed and two people wounded.

The terrorist is said to follow extreme-right ideologies.

The European Muslim Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC) considers it as their duty to express their deep feelings off sorrow towards the victims and their next of kin. Furthermore, we want to express our feelings of support to the German citizens who once again are challenged to live amid fear and insecurity.

The European Muslim Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC) will, in view of vicious acts like these, increase their efforts to denounce the extreme ideas which lead to these barbaric acts  against humanity and call on the European governments to do likewise.

We call on the European people not to be let astray to ideologies which are responsible for hatred, racism, islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

We call on all Muslims, Jews and the other people of faith to join us in our effort to put aside animosity and hatred within our society and to show that religion is once again here to establish peace and prosperity in the whole of Europe.

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A proposed ban on male circumcision in Sweden

3rd of October 2019

The Swedish Centre Party voted in favor of banning circumcision of boys in absence of a medical reason during the party’s annual meeting in Karlstad (Sweden) during the weekend of the 28th and 29th September. Although the decision on circumcision goes against the official party line, the rejection of the board against this outrageous vote was again overturned by party commissioners who voted in favor of the ban by 314 to 166 votes.

The European Muslim Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC) of Europe fully supports the protests voiced by our Islamic and Jewish brethren in Sweden.

The European Muslim Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC) calls on Swedish society to show the utmost vigilance towards maintaining freedom of religion and its practices.
In the same way we call on the European countries to voice their protests against this discriminatory decision which might lead to such a ban within one of their member state.

The European Muslim Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC)  prays to the Lord Above to be able to strengthen our respective communities in their struggle of maintaining their religious practices in a free and united Europe as a blessing for our own communities and far beyond.

 

Vienna, 3rd of October 2019

The European Muslim Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC)

Mufti Nedzad Grabus, co-chairman, Ljubljana
Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, co-chairman, Moscow
Rabbi Lody B. van de Kamp, coordinator, Amsterdam
Imam Yahya Pallavicini, coordinator, Rome

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Muslim-Jewish Leadership Council’s General Assembly in Matera, Italy

MATERA, 18 September 2019 – Leaders of Muslim and Jewish religious communities in Europe issued a joint statement calling upon European institutions, policy makers and civil society to protect religious freedom, in part by respecting conventions governing diet, dress and the upbringing of children.

The statement, signed by 29 religious leaders from 19 European countries, was one of the outcomes of the Muslim-Jewish Leadership Council’s General Assembly in Matera, Italy, which took place on 16 September and was co-organised by KAICIID and the City of Peace for Children Foundation.

On behalf of their religious communities, the signatories praised the European
commitment to safeguard diversity but urged institutions and authorities to be vigilant and to “take steps to stop divisive and discriminatory discourse and hate speech, including Islamophobia and Antisemitism, designed to isolate our
communities, make them appear foreign to Europe and its values or to set our
communities against one another for political gain.”

Based on the principles of European law, they called for equal treatment of all
citizens, including Jewish and Muslim minority faith groups. MJLC members
expressed deep concern at an “increasingly polarized political discourse and spread of misinformation in Europe which is endangering fundamental rights, provoking mistrust, and encouraging rising levels of Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia with attendant hatred and discrimination on a political, social, legal and personal level.”

The statement mentioned in particular the need to protect religious freedom by “refraining from setting limitations upon, or seeking to determine the practice of Muslim and Jewish faith through limitations to choice of clothing, preparation of food and the raising of children”.

To avoid misrepresentations or misinterpretations of their faiths and to counteract discriminatory policies, MJLC members agreed to create two commissions that will work on issues of shared interest currently under scrutiny in different countries: one being kosher and halal food and the other, the wider practice of religious freedom. Commission members with technical expertise in each field will offer advice, gather data and provide communication material wherever challenges arise.

“We need to reduce prejudice by framing our perspective in the terms used by
European institutions” Imam Yahya Pallavicini, President of Comunita Religiosa Islamica Italiana and Vice Chair of the Council explained. “On the other hand, these institutions should not compromise our identities by prescribing how faith is to be expressed if this can be regulated internally,” he added.

The MJLC will also produce background documents on the links between Muslim and Jewish faiths on matters of common concern which should provide the basis for joint advocacy. “When we demonstrate that Muslims and Jews are cooperating deeply and systematically, and that we are and will continue to be Europeans, government institutions are far more willing to listen to us” noted Rabbi Fiszon, Chief Rabbi of Metz and Moselle, and Advisor to the Chief Rabbi of France.

The MJLC assembly took place in the context of the Pax Matera celebrations,
organised during the lead up to United Nations International Peace Day and
highlighting the city’s status as a European Capital of Culture 2019. Following a meeting of an MJLC/KAICIID delegation with the Mayor of Matera, Mr. Rafaello de Ruggieri and the Catholic Archbishop of Matera-Irsina, the Most Reverend Antonio Giuseppe Caiazzo, the city announced it will be receiving European Jewish and Muslim religious leaders every year from now on, as a sign of solidarity and a commitment to peace.

Following last year’s general assembly in Amsterdam, this encounter welcomed new and high level members, including the Council’s first Italian Rabbi. Representatives of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom also participated in the meeting.

Statement of the Muslim-Jewish Leadership Council, Matera September 16th 2019

Statement of the Muslim-Jewish Leadership Council
We, twenty-nine leaders of Muslim and Jewish religious communities from nineteen European countries, commend the efforts of people in every walk of life to establish and maintain deep and lasting peace in Europe, and call upon religious leaders, policy makers and European institutions to place freedom, justice, respect and plurality at the heart of their vision for a stable and cohesive European society.

Gathering regularly as Muslim and Jewish religious leaders, the Vienna-based
Muslim Jewish Leadership Council- Europe (MJLC) recognizes that though our
traditions have many important differences, we also have much in common- including the duty to respect those different to ourselves- and can beneficially build up relations of trust and support through interreligious dialogue;

Determined to ensure that our faiths are not misinterpreted or misrepresented, either to drive our faiths apart, or to cause hostility between the religious communities and secular society;

Celebrating the diversity which the governments and constitutions of the European Union uphold as a prerequisite for peace and solidarity, and reiterating commitment to the defense of human rights and equal citizenship so precious to minorities such as the Muslim and Jewish faith groups;

Recognizing, on the occasion of United Nations International Peace Day, the Pax Matera celebrations organized by our host Fondazione Città della Pace peri i Bambini Basilicata with support of the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID), and the commemoration of the courageous uprising of citizens in Matera seeking to throw off Nazi oppression in September 1943, that peace is more than an absence of open conflict, but must be founded upon freedom, human dignity and justice, with inclusion even of the most vulnerable;

Deeply concerned at an increasingly polarized political discourse and spread of misinformation in Europe which is endangering fundamental rights, provoking mistrust, and encouraging rising levels of Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia with attendant hatred and discrimination on a political, social, legal and personal level;

The members of the Council take this opportunity while visiting Matera, Europe’s beautiful Capital of Culture 2019, to call upon European institutions, policy makers, religious leaders from every faith and civil society at large to support our efforts:

  • To protect religious freedom and its expression, particularly by refraining from setting limitations upon, or seeking to determine, the practice of Muslim and Jewish faith through limitations to choice of clothing, preparation of food and the raising of children;
  • To point out and take steps to stop divisive and discriminatory discourse and hate speech, including Islamophobia and Antisemitism, designed to isolate our
    communities, make them appear foreign to Europe and its values or to set our communities against one another for political gain;
  • To stand by the principles of European law, that all citizens shall be treated equally and have equal access to institutions so they can fulfil their responsibility as active members of society.

For its own part, during the session in Matera, the MJLC has decided to:

  1. Produce a background documents detailing the links between Muslim and Jewish faiths in matters of common concern which should provide a basis for collaboration and advocacy for policy change where necessary;
  2. Form two commissions on kosher and halal and religious freedom, consisting of members with expertise in these fields, who can offer advice, review data and produce communications on emerging issues;
  3. Conduct outreach to European institutions and seek opportunities to collaborate to protect European religious minorities.

The founders of the European Union have always framed the essence of its society on the concept of unity in diversity, recognizing the added values of a plurality of religious and cultural identities. Should this be lost, the root of the European project and society is at risk.
Therefore, we welcome and seek to encourage those who agree that freedom of religion and freedom of expression, among the many others articulated in the Declaration of Human Rights, constitute cornerstones of a dynamic, diverse and culturally-rich society in which peace is not stasis but expressed in the vibrancy of curious, authentic and open-hearted human relationships.

Signed,

Grand Mufti Dr. Nedzad Grabus Slovenia
Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt Russia
Imam Yahya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini Italy
Rabbi Lody B. Van de Kamp Netherlands
Mr. Mohamed Adham Abdelaal Poland
Rabbi Jehoschua Ahrens Germany
Sheikh Dr. Umar Al-Qadri Ireland
Imam Tarafa Baghajati Austria
Mr. Muhammad Bascelic Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mr. Shimon Cohen United Kingdom
Chief Rabbi Izhak Dayan Switzerland
Mr. Muhammad Escudero Spain
Cheif Rabbi Ariel Finzi Italy
Rabbi Bruno Fiszon Frances
Rabbi Herschel Gluck United Kingdom
Mr. Gady Gronich Germany
Rabbi Rene Gutman France
Imam Sheikh Mohammad Ismail United Kingdom
Mufti Romas Jakubauskas Lithuania
Imam Senaid Kobilica Norway
Rabbi Steven Langnas Germany
Rabbi Jair Melchior Denmark
Ms. Shorena Mikava Germany
Sheikh David Munir Portugal
Mufti Iusuf Murat Romania
Imam Abdul-Wahid Pedersen Denmark
Ms. Halima Rubbo Italy
Ms. Anna Stamou Greece

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European Muslim-Jewish Leadership Council Expresses Support for KAICIID

It is with deep dismay that the Muslim-Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC) has heard of recent developments in Austria which could lead to the country’s withdrawal from the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID).

The Board of Directors of the MJLC has worked with KAICIID closely over the last three years to launch the first European network for interreligious dialogue between Muslim and Jewish religious leaders. Under the MJLC, the two groups meet, build trust, and coordinate common actions to promote a culture of respect and to protect European minority rights.

After six meetings hosted and chaired by KAICIID, the MJLC was founded as an Austrian NGO in October of last year- itself a historical moment for Austrian interfaith work. At present, the assembly comprises nearly forty representatives of Muslim and Jewish communities from twenty countries determined to work through education and advocacy to stamp out Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism and support the ongoing process of harmonizing traditional needs (such as clothing and dietary requirements) with the priorities of modern European society.

Political polarization has made Europe an increasingly difficult environment for religious minorities. Both Muslim and Jewish citizens have experienced a rise in discrimination, as well as a raft of legal measures which restrict the free practice of their religion. In Austria only last month, we witnessed a Holocaust memorial display being repeatedly defaced in a gesture of neo-Nazi intimidation. At that time, Viennese religious organizations and others came together to mend the pictures and to guard against further damage in a move which did credit to Austrian society.

Nonetheless it is clear that Muslim and Jewish communities need every opportunity to stand in solidarity and to work with European national and international organizations to ensure our perspectives are taken into account. The potential of networks like the MJLC is vast, but MJLC entirely relies on the support and coordination of reliable, neutral and generous organizations like KAICIID which act far beyond the normal realm of their individual member states. It is a shame that KAICIID, which cannot by nature represent any country’s foreign policy, has once again been pulled into local political manoeuvres ahead of the coming elections, which have nothing to do with its core mission.

We call upon the Austrian authorities to reconsider their support for the Centre, the loss of which would leave a gaping hole in Austrian interfaith work which other organizations would be hard-pressed to fill, and would damage the trust between the state and those faith communities which have been helped by KAICIID’s work.

 

Co-Chairs

Pinchas Goldschmidt, Chief Rabbi of Moscow

Dr. Nedžad Grabus, Grand Mufti of Slovenia

Deputy Co-Chairs 

Imam Yahya Pallavicini, President of Comunità Religiosa Islamica Italiana

Rabbi Lody B. van de Kamp, Director of Jehoeda Services

Secretary

Chief Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister, Rabbi of the Viennese Israelitische Kultusgemeinde

Treasurer

Imam Tarafa Baghajati, Founder of “Initiative Muslimischer ÖsterreicherInnen” (IMÖ)

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The ban on religious cattle and poultry slaughtering, Halal and Kosher, in the Flemish provinces of Belgium

Vienna, 6rd January 2019

On Monday, the 1st of January 2019, in the Flemish section of Belgium the banning of cattle and poultry slaughter without pre-stunning came into force. This discriminating measure affects the large Muslim and Jewish communities in this country.

That provinces within Belgium, with its lawmaking capital of Europe Brussels, have passed such anti-religious law is an affront to European values which are said to be treasured so dearly by its European member states. The declaration made by many European leaders and politicians, again and again, that there is “no Europe without Jews” becomes an empty phrase unless the members states of the European Community come out now with a forceful statement that there is no room for such discriminating acts against any part of our citizens and this law should be abolished instantly.

It is not only the Muslim and Jewish segments of our European community which are at the losing end of such anti-religious measures. Since freedom of religion is one of the pillars on which the fabric of the European post-war society is based, such infringement of religious practices severely damages the entire community right across our continent. The Muslim and Jewish communities will not change their religious commitment. The outside world will just increase their loss of respect for religious conviction, for philosophy of life in general, for diversity and for the minority communities within their midst.

Such situation has proved in the past to be far from desirable.

The European Muslim Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC) prays to the Lord Above to be able to strengthen our respective communities in their struggle of maintaining their religious practices in a free and united Europe as a blessing for our own communities and far beyond.

Vienna, the 6th of January 2019/ 28 Rabi’ath-Thani 1440/ 29 Tevet 5779

 

 

The European Muslim Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC)

Mufti Nedzad Grabus, co-chairman, Ljubljana

Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, co-chairman, Moscow

Rabbi Lody B. van de Kamp, coordinator, Amsterdam

Imam Yahya Pallavicini, coordinator, Rome

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The attack in Pittsburgh on Jewish Worshippers

Synagogue Tree of Life during the Shabbat-services
27th October 2018

Words can not express our feelings of sorrow and sadness about this horrifying attack against humanity.

An attack on a place of Divine worship is an attack on all places of worship.

This heinous hate crime perpetrated against peaceful worshippers in a synagogue in Pittsburg, USA, reminds us that hate speech and vilification of Minorities and immigrants bring with them disastrous consequences.

The European Muslim Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC) prays to the Lord Above to strengthen our respective communities in their struggle of bringing a true peace and prosperity for our own communities and far beyond. This as a shining example in our fight to protect the rights of all minorities in our world.

Vienna, 28th October 2018 / 17 Safar 1440  / 18 Marchesvan 5779

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Coalition Building Workshop

The Muslim Jewish Leadership Council in Europe is organizing the Coalition Building Workshop: Establishing a Coalition Building Agenda for the European Muslim and Jewish Leadership Council.

The Coalition Building Workshop is cordially being hosted by the Municipality of the City of Amsterdam, The Netherlands and supported by KAICIID Vienna.

The aim of this meeting is to support Jewish and Muslim religious leaders in the review, sharing and learning from current good practice of inter-religious and inter-community dialogue and collaboration.

When our Muslim and Jewish leaders take the lead, the communities will follow.

The event will be held on the 8th and the 9th of October 2018 in the city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

This workshop will entail two thematic blocks focused on:

  1. Sharing current best practice of Muslim – Jewish dialogues and cooperation, and
  2. Outlook of the future coalition building opportunities around the MJLC mission.

Throughout the sessions, participants will be asked to spell out their ideas transforming the current inter-community dialogues into well-defined, operational and goal-oriented coalitions.

 

Info
MJLC Amsterdam Office
Kanteel 82, 1083 DC  Amsterdam
Office: +31 20 404 7833/ Mobile: +31 629070387
lbvdk@rabbiscer.org

 

 

 

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With anti-Muslim laws, Europe enters new dark age

Originally published on politico

What has become of Europe? New laws targeting Muslims are reminiscent of a time when innocent Jewish children were abducted by masked monks and imprisoned in monasteries to “save” them from the eternal fire of hell. In our blind mistrust of religious differences, we are returning to the Middle Ages, when the only model for integration was the forced conversion of the minority religion to the majority.

Take Denmark, where the government has introduced new laws mandating that children living in “ghetto” neighborhoods must spend 25 hours apart from their parents every week. During this time, they’ll be taught “Danish values,” including Christmas and Easter traditions, and receive Danish language classes.

By regulating life in these neighborhoods, the government hopes to “Westernize” these children and immerse them in Denmark’s secular culture and society. They see it as protection of the many at the expense of the few. But the harsh penalties for non-compliance suggest intolerance for any form of foreign teaching, religious education and cultural difference.

Parents who refuse to cooperate will be fined and their welfare payments halted. The fact that these new rules target low-income, predominantly Muslim enclaves betrays the Danish government’s fear that the existence of insular Muslim communities will facilitate the development of extremist ideologies.

Denmark is not the only country to target its minority populations and religious freedom in this way. Austria and Belgium have proposed limiting kosher meat slaughter, for example, and several countries — including France and Norway— have banned religious head coverings in schools or among civil servants. Bavaria and Italy have floated legislation that would require crucifixes to be displayed in public buildings.

These types of decisions undermine minority religious communities and have no place in a truly diverse and democratic Europe. Time and time again, history has taught us that civil peace and harmony can’t be achieved through repression and forced conversion. Discriminatory policies too quickly descend into totalitarianism — or trigger a damaging backlash.

In 15th-century Catholic Spain, the monarchy attempted to “solve” the Jewish question by placing restrictions on Jewish practices, then followed with forced conversion and expulsion. Jewish people were viewed with fear and suspicion as they were not considered Spanish citizens.

By the next century, the assimilated Catholic children and grandchildren of the Conversos — those who converted to Roman Catholicism during the 14th and 15th centuries — were much more familiar with the biblical texts than the general Catholic population. They became the standard bearers of the Protestant reformation, which resulted in the destruction of Catholic hegemony over Europe.

Czarist Russia also struggled to “solve” the Jewish problem through repression and discrimination. This propelled a disproportionate number of Jewish intellectuals to join the Bolshevik revolution, which almost succeeded in the destruction of Russian Orthodoxy and culture.

I feel lucky to live in Europe and consider inclusivity to be its hallmark. Cultural metropolises like London, Milan and Berlin are enriched by the many varied communities that reside within them, by their unique traditions, smells, sights and sounds. Europe is naturally inclusive and peace-loving; our societies are open and free.

So what is the right approach? There are certainly times when governments need to act. On Tuesday, Danish prosecutors charged Mundhir Abdallah, a Copenhagen-based imam, with incitement for having preached that the Quran calls on Muslims to “fight the Jews and kill them.”

Hate speech of this type is unacceptable in any civilized society. Indeed, if anything, the government was too slow to move. The mosque where Abdallah delivered his sermon was attended by Omar El-Hussein — the 22-year-old gunman behind a double shooting at a free-speech conference and a Copenhagen synagogue — the day before he went on his rampage. Denmark’s Jewish community had filed a complaint about Adallah’s preachings in May.

Violence and hate speech must be combatted, but security concerns cannot be used to justify discrimination against religious minorities. As long as Jews were the sole targets of Islamic terror, Europe’s response was silence and indifference. But following the attacks in Paris, Copenhagen, Brussels, Berlin and Nice, when every European is a potential victim, Europe has woken up to the threat of religious hatred. The problem is that the policies European countries have put in place to fight the threat of religious extremism are themselves highly damaging.

After the devastation of World War II, Europe was rebuilt on principles founded in Judeo-Christian philosophy, such as the dignity of human life, decency, respect and support for the traditional family structure. But as governments seek to clamp down on religious differences in the name of security and defense, they are jettisoning these foundations.

We urgently need to find more effective solutions that do not alienate a group of people based on their religion or country of origin. Islamic extremism is distinct from Islam and this distinction must be made clear at a government level.

By enacting discriminatory laws in the guise of “protection” and social cohesion, Europe is slipping into pre-Renaissance religious intolerance, and aligning itself with the authoritarian regimes of the Middle East.

We must do better. Europe must wake up to the poison of racism and religious discrimination that affects us all, regardless of race, religion or citizenship, before it is too late.

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Conference of European Rabbis visits Tunisia, feels more optimism today

Originally published on thearabweekly

The guests at the Radisson Hotel on Djerba weren’t expecting the rabbis. That much was clear. Nevertheless, the 30 or so orthodox rabbis visiting Muslim-majority Tunisia made their way through the hotel foyer to the astonishment of the assembled guests.

Other foreign Jewish organisations have visited Tunisian before but this was the first time the Conference of European Rabbis assembled within a Muslim country so the gathering was loaded with symbolism.

For the rabbis, the visit was evidence that religious cohabitation was possible. For the dwindling number of Jews of Djerba, this was a vital link to the wider European Jewish community. For Tunisia, it was proof the country had ridden the wave of radicalisation that threatened to engulf it a few years previously and that the state was in control.

Tunisia has been home to Jewish life since at least Roman times. However, after the horrors of the second world war and the founding of the state of Israel, the numbers of Jewish Tunisians plummeted. In 1948, it was estimated 100,000 Jews lived in Tunisia. Today, that number stands at about 1,500. Approximately 1,000 of those live on the small Mediterranean island of Djerba.

For almost as long as there have been Jews in Tunisia, there has been an annual pilgrimage to El Ghriba synagogue to celebrate

Lag BaOmer. Tunisian Minister of Tourism Salma Elloumi Rekik said: “The Jewish religion is the oldest religion in our country and El Ghriba is very important. Tunisian Muslims and Jews (have been) living together for more than 2,000 years, so I think El Ghriba is an occasion to be together.”

“I think (our presence here) sends a powerful message to the Arab world, to Europe and to Israel that we have to strive for peace and understanding,” said Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Council of European Rabbis and the chief rabbi of Moscow.

Clad in traditional rabbinical dress, the rabbis travelled from Germany, France, Luxembourg, Russia, the Netherlands and Israel. Across Djerba, security was ubiquitous with all reporting of the event embargoed until after the rabbis’ departure. Armed guards patrolled nearly every junction around the synagogue and police outriders flanked the motorcade that transported the rabbis along the narrow roads and through the small villages.

Referencing the terrorist attacks of 2015 and the risks to Tunisia’s Jewish minority during a turbulent period, Goldschmidt said” “I think we’re looking at (Tunisia) with more optimism today than we were three years ago and the fact that we’re here is a significant statement.”

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I refuse to let myself be used to exclude other groups

Originally published on dutchnews

Lody Van de Kamp (69) is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi living in Amsterdam. Being the son of two Holocaust survivors, he is very much aware of the dangers of discrimination and the exclusion of certain groups in society. He wrote several books about the Holocaust, and he regularly visits schools to teach children about World War II.

More than this, the rabbi is involved in many projects aiming at building bridges between people from different backgrounds. He has particularly good connections within the Muslim community, and whenever he senses discrimination towards them, he is the first one to show his support.

I meet Van de Kamp on a Sunday morning in a hotel lounge in Amsterdam Zuid, an area with a large Jewish population. As usual, the rabbi shows up visibly Jewish, wearing a black kippa on his head. While he sips his black coffee, I asks him about the rise in anti-semitism in the Netherlands, and his perspective on it.

‘Anti-semitism has always been bad, and I guess it will always be,’ he says. ‘It has never been any different. When I walk on the street, people recognise me as a Jew. I only have to bump into the wrong person in the wrong place, and there could be real trouble.’

However, this does not only apply to Jews, he adds. ‘The same goes for other minority groups, such as Surinamese, gays, or Muslims. To me, there is no difference. Sadly, this is the situation.’

Shift to the right

Discrimination has always been there, but the increasing influence of the right has changed the political climate, says the rabbi. ‘And this change has made new space for discrimination and the exclusion of minorities.’

He is particularly concerned about Geert Wilders’ right-wing anti-immigration PVV. ‘The PVV gets away with the statement “Islam is deadly”, in their most recent campaign video. But 20 to 30 years ago this would have been unheard of,’ he says.

Van de Kamp is very sceptical about the attention right-wing parties like the PVV are suddenly giving to anti-semitism. ‘The fact that they care so much about anti-semitism has everything to do with the anti-Muslim debate.

‘When Geert Wilders visited the Jewish restaurant that was attacked a few months ago, it was not out of love for Jews, but out of hatred against Muslims,’ he says.

A Dutch luxury

Van de Kamp believes the hysteria that arose after the attacks at the Jewish restaurant in Amsterdam are exaggerated. ‘There have been very serious terrorist attacks on Jewish institutions in Vienna, as well as in Brussels. In France hostages have been taken.

‘Here in Amsterdam, there was a refugee who smashed a window with a stick. Later on, someone else smeared dirty stuff on the window, and then a stone was thrown at it a few days later.’

The rabbi pauses briefly, giving the words some time to land. ‘Honestly, the fact that we can worry about such incidents, is a great luxury. For sure, there is enough reason to stay alert. But comparing this with Germany in the 1930s, as some people have done, really is based on historical ignorance.’

The rabbi warns of the danger of exclusion. ‘If one group knows best what it means to be excluded and what it can lead to, it is the Jewish people,’ he states. ‘It starts with exclusion, and it ends with destruction. So I think the Jewish people should be respectful enough to say that they will not let themselves be used for this purpose’

Said and Lody

Currently, van de Kamp is actively engaged in projects to stop youngsters turning to crime and from becoming radicalised and has a close relationship with Said Bensellam, a youth worker with a Moroccan-Muslim background.

‘We speak with young people, often from a Muslim background, who are about to get into the criminal circuit. Our experience has been the same again and again: give those people a chance, listen to them, make sure they will also get a job,’ he says.

‘Then they are really not interested in getting into the drugs circuit, or fighting in Syria. These youngsters are constantly being excluded and driven into a corner. Politicians need to stand up for them, and help them to become part of society.’

Nazi salute

Ironically, it was a Nazi salute that led the rabbi into this field. It happened eight years ago, when he and a group of Jewish students were walking in Amsterdam. A teenage boy saw them and demonstratively made a Nazi salute. The act was filmed and caused considerable commotion in the media. The boy was identified and put on trial. But before that, Van de Kamp went to talk with him.

‘It turned out that the boy, who was then 16, didn’t know anything about the meaning of the Hitler salute. And he wanted to do everything to fix what he had done,’ the rabbi said.

The boy asked the rabbi to stay in touch with him, and if he could take him to the Anne Frank house, where he had once been when he was 12.

‘So we went together to the Anne Frank house, where we spent several hours. He wanted to know everything. I remember the moment when we watched the video of Miep Gies, who helped Anne Frank’s family to go into hiding. After seeing that, he wanted to see the video again.

‘Eventually he said: “Mister Lody, when I did the Hitler greeting on the street, I thought I was cool. But what this woman did, that is really cool!”

Wearing a kippa

So how does the rabbi himself experience walking around wearing a kippa? Are there any places where he feels unsafe? ‘If there is a pro-Palestine demonstration on the Malieveld in the Hague or the Museumplein in Amsterdam, then I would rather not cross it wearing a kippa. You always have to consider where it could be seen as provocative.’

However, Van de Kamp can often be found in western Amsterdam where the city’s Muslim community are largely concentrated and where he feels comfortable enough to walk with his kippa.

‘Not long ago, I walked in the Kolenkit neighbourhood together with an imam, who was wearing a djellaba. Suddenly, an elderly man approached us. He burst into tears and said “this is how it is supposed to be!” For some people it is still very special to see Muslims and Jews out walking together, even in this country.’