Roundtable discussion on antisemitism – Dutch House of Representatives
12 September 2018 – Draft background paper
In July 2018, the Committee on the Interior of the House of Representatives of the States
General of the Netherlands (Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal) invited the European Union
(EU) Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) to participate in a roundtable discussion on
combating antisemitism. This paper provides background information relevant to the three
blocks of discussions to be had at the roundtable of 12 September 2018.
Incidents of antisemitism
Unlike what is the case in several EU Member States, a number of public authorities and civil
society organisations in the Netherlands collect and publish a variety of data on antisemitic
incidents on a yearly basis (Table 1). 1 The regular availability and close analysis of such data
enables the identification of trends in the manifestation of antisemitism, and shows that
antisemitism is a persisting phenomenon that requires the continued vigilance of the State.
Table 1: Examples of data on antisemitism published in the Netherlands, 2014–2017
National
Police

Type of
data

Public
Prosecutor*

Local antidiscrimination
agencies

Incidents of
antisemitic
discrimination
recorded by
the police

National
hotline on
online
discrimination
(MiND)
Discriminatory
antisemitic
incidents on the
internet
reported to
MiND
2014
64
2015
46
2016
31
2017
236

Information
and
Documentation
Centre Israel
(CIDI)
Incidents of
antisemitism
reported to CIDI

Acts of
Incidents of
antisemitic
antisemitic
discrimination discrimination
reported to the
recorded by
local agencies
the public
prosecutor
Number
2014
2014
2014
2014
358
59
147
171
of
2015
2015
2015
2015
428
35
104
126
incidents 2016
2016
2016
2016
335
39
122
109
2017
2017
2017
2017
284
42
67
113
Source: published data collated by FRA.
Notes: *Estimates extrapolated from the annual report on criminal discrimination of the public
prosecutor.

Yet, these data cannot and should not be taken to provide an accurate portrayal of the
prevalence of antisemitism in the Netherlands. Rather, they offer an indication of the extent to
which incidents are reported by victims or witnesses of antisemitism. Indeed, EU-wide
victimisation surveys conducted by FRA consistently show that victims of discrimination and
hate crime overwhelmingly tend not to report incidents of harassment, physical violence or
vandalism they experience, whether to the police or any other body. 2
FRA’s first survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in selected Member States
confirms this finding, showing that more than three quarters of people who experience
antisemitic harassment do not report such incidents; nearly two thirds do not report antisemitic
physical violence; and, more than half do not report antisemitic vandalism. 3 Preliminary
analysis of findings of FRA’s second survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews
confirms this trend; this second wave of the survey also covers the Netherlands and will be
published in December 2018. 4
Impact and perpetrators of antisemitism
Both waves of the survey show that sizeable proportions of Jews across the EU, including in
the Netherlands, experience antisemitism as a growing and pervasive problem in the country
where they live, whether it manifests itself online, in the media, in political life, in public spaces
or in vandalism of Jewish objects or property. The ubiquity of antisemitism impacts negatively

Roundtable discussion on antisemitism – Dutch House of Representatives
12 September 2018 – Draft background paper
on feelings of safety and security among Jews in the EU and on their ability to live an openly
Jewish life, for fear of becoming victims of antisemitic harassment, discrimination or hate
crime. For many, this has led them to hide any visible markers of their Jewish identity in public.
For others, this has led them to seriously consider or even prepare emigrating from the country
where they live because they do not feel safe there as Jews.
Limited data are available on perpetrators of antisemitic incidents in most EU Member States,
including in the Netherlands. For example, data from the public prosecutor show that just
under one third of all 144 criminal acts of discrimination it recorded in 2017 relate to antisemitic
insults directed at supporters of the Ajax Amsterdam football club, whose supporters and
players are often referred to under the nickname of “Jews”. 5 The FRA survey data show that
Jewish victims of antisemitic violence or harassment identify different perpetrators, in western
European countries mostly Muslims with extremist views, and, in eastern European countries
people with extreme right-wing views.
Measures to combat antisemitism
FRA delivered a range of opinions, as well as practical recommendation in its 2013 report3
addressing educational authorities, as well as law enforcement in Member States. Most
importantly, FRA argues in favour of evidence-based policies. Law- and policymakers need
robust and reliable data if they are to devise courses of action to combat antisemitism
effectively. To that end, data need to be produced by and combined from a variety of national
sources, including police and criminal justice statistics on hate crime; data from equality bodies
on complaints of discrimination; monitoring data from civil society organisations; and regular
victimisation surveys conducted by national authorities.
In this respect, close cooperation between Member States, the European Commission and
FRA can assist national law- and policymakers in devising measures to combat antisemitism.
For example, guidance on how to improve data collection on hate crime has been agreed by
the EU High Level Group on combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance,
through a process facilitated by FRA. 6 FRA and the Office for Democratic institutions for
Human Rights (ODIHR) have started working with EU Member States to put this guidance into
practice, through national diagnostic workshops that serve identify gaps in hate crime
recording and solutions to address these gaps. Similarly, guidelines on how to improve the
collection and use of equality data are being produced by the EU High Level Group on nondiscrimination, equality and diversity, also through a process facilitated by FRA.
1

2

3

4

5
6

FRA (2018), Hate crime recording and data collection practice across the EU, available at:
http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2018/hate-crime-recording. FRA (2017), Antisemitism - Overview of data available in the
European Union 2006–2016, available at: http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2017/antisemitism-overview-2006-2016. The next
overview will be published in November 2018.
FRA (2018), EU-MIDIS II: Second European Union minorities and discrimination survey, available at:
http://fra.europa.eu/en/project/2015/eu-midis-ii-second-european-union-minorities-and-discrimination-survey. FRA (2014),
Surveying LGBT people and authorities, available at: http://fra.europa.eu/en/project/2011/surveying-lgbt-people-and-authorities.
FRA (2014), FRA survey on gender-based violence against women, available at: http://fra.europa.eu/en/project/2012/fra-surveygender-based-violence-against-women.
FRA (2013), Discrimination and hate crime against Jews in EU Member States: experiences and perceptions of antisemitism,
available at: http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2013/discrimination-and-hate-crime-against-jews-eu-member-statesexperiences-and.
FRA (2018), Second FRA survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews, available at:
http://fra.europa.eu/en/project/2017/second-fra-survey-discrimination-and-hate-crime-against-jews. Findings of this survey will
be published in December 2018.
Openbaar Ministerie (2017), Strafbare Discriminatie in Beeld 2017, available at:
www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/rapporten/2018/04/26/bijlage-5-strafbare-discriminatie-in-beeld-2017.
EU High Level Group on combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance – Subgroup on methodologies for
recording and collecting data on hate crime (2018), Improving the recording of hate crime by law enforcement authorities - Key
guiding principles, available at: http://fra.europa.eu/en/news/2017/improving-recording-hate-crime-law-enforcementauthorities.