The Netherlands calls out Samidoun to stand up against terror- opinion

The Dutch House of Representatives has finally joined Germany in trying to curb the rising antisemitism in Europe and the world by voting to include Samidoun, an offshoot of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), on its list of terrorist organizations. While the move is welcome, it begs the question, what took so long? 

I am immensely proud of being both Dutch and Jewish. My two identities lived side by side in a symbiotic relationship for most of my life. However, sadly, this no longer rings true. 

My Holland - the Holland known globally as a haven of liberalism, where all can coexist together, and where tolerance, mutual respect, and freedom to be yourself are more than buzzwords but truly a national ethos - is disappearing before my eyes. 

Watching the steady erosion of my country, I am reminded of the dark yet accurate statement by Hitler's Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels, who said, "It will always remain one of democracy's best jokes that it provided its deadly enemies with the means by which it was destroyed."

A Jew invoking the Nazis? Detractors will undoubtedly be surprised. However, groups like Samidoun are no different than the old brown shirts; they just wear different uniforms and employ the same tactics.

They love freedom of speech, as long as it is theirs and only theirs. Anyone who disagrees is a target of hatred, isolation, and ostracism. They whip up protests that foment hate. They idolize despotic leaders like Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro. They actively support and praise Palestinian terrorism as they revel in bloodshed and death, fly terrorist flags, and advocate for vandalism and violence against companies or entities that support Israel and Jewish people. 

The similarities do not end there. Frankfurt was the first university the Nazis tackled, precisely because it was the most liberal of the major German universities, with a faculty that prided itself on its allegiance to scholarship, freedom of conscience, and democracy. 

Samidoun has targeted Dutch universities, most notably the University of Amsterdam and Utrecht University in my own hometown where. pro-Palestinian activists threw chairs and gas tanks at pro-Israel activists on campus and beat them with wooden planks.

Samidoun praised the encampments and directly challenged Dutch police and law enforcement authorities by threatening that "attempts to repress or break up the encampments by the authorities will be met with resistance."

The group's protests and activists have advocated for violence against Israelis, praised terrorist acts, and spread hateful propaganda targeting Israel and Israelis living in Holland. But it's not just Israelis - every Jew is in their crosshairs.

Jewish life in Holland has irrevocably changed because Samidoun and their fellow terror-supporting cohorts are tolerated. Synagogues and Jewish property are defaced, while Jews are insulted in the streets, and are therefore choosing to hide their identities by creating aliases when ordering food, removing their mezuzahs from their doors, and tucking in their Magen David necklaces before going out. 

Goebbels must be looking up from the flames of hell, proud that his legacy is taking root again in one of liberal democracy's most prominent bastions.Because Samidoun reflects a society that is no longer balanced. The erosion of hard-earned freedoms that make us unmistakeably Dutch are tolerated out of fear or because we believe we have no way of stopping them within this tolerant framework we built. 

But we can stop them. The Dutch House of Representatives, albeit belatedly, mustered up the  courage to act and try to combat those in our society who support terrorism and, in doing so, endanger all of us and our shared values and freedoms.

My Holland might be disappearing, but it is still there, the contours and outlines still visible, even if faint. I hope that this move against Samidoun represents the planting of our red, white, and blue Dutch flag firmly in the ground and that my Holland can come back into sharp focus. 

Mrs. Ellen Van Praagh is the EJA Jewish Leaders Board Vice-Chairwoman for Equity and Diversity, and President of IPOR Jewish Communities, The Netherlands.

This op-ed is published in partnership with a coalition of organizations that fight antisemitism across the world. Read the previous article by Dr. Emmanuel Navon.