Dutch rabbi considers appeal of dropping of charges against alleged attacker

An Utrecht rabbi is weighing an appeal against the decision of Dutch prosecutors to drop charges against an alleged antisemitic attacker who reportedly struck him on the head and cursed him, he told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

Rabbi Aryeh Leib Heintz said that a 40-year-old suspect demanded "why are you dressed like a Jews" and hit him on the head at the Overvecht Shopping Center on March 29, but security cameras outside an Action supermarket weren't working properly.

The alleged attacker claimed that he hadn't confronted the rabbi because he was Jewish, but because Heintz was looking askance at Moroccan women, which the rabbi said was "nonsense."  The suspect also reportedly told investigators that he had only hit the rabbi's hat.

Heintz said that he had fled from his attacker into the supermarket, where he credited two women of Moroccan extraction for intervening and preventing further assault.

The failure to prosecute antisemitic crimes was "Unfortunately quite normal in the Netherlands, my son had such a case a few years ago," said Heintz. In his son's case they filed an article 12 appeal, and ultimately the attacker received jail time and paid for Heintz's son's broken glasses.

Anxiety about situation in Utrecht 

In the meantime, Heintz said that he has continued with his work preparing for Passover, but notes anxiety about the situation in Utrecht.

"It's quite disheartening, and of course I go to the same shopping center," said Heintz. "But I am a little traumatized by this guy who wanted to attack a Jew."

The rabbi has staken security measures at his home, and is in contact with the city in case there is another occurrence, but said that verbal abuse is also quite common in the city.

"I've gotten used to people cursing at me," said Heitnz.

While he has adjusted to the steady stream of abuse, he said that he was "very concerned about the Jews in the Netherlands in general."

"It starts with propaganda, moves to cursing, and then to attacking," said Heintz. "This is not about a war against Hamas, it's a war against the Jewish people. It's not about territory -- Hamas declared on October 7 an attack against Jews across the world."