”In all my many years in Holland I can seldom remember such a toxic environment for Jews. This is an appalling submission to the base instincts of an openly hostile group towards Israel, the world’s only Jewish State,” says Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, Chief Rabbi of the Netherlands.

An anti-Zionist group in the Netherlands is pressuring the country’s universities to reveal whether their staff members have ties to Israel.

The move by ‘’The Rights Forum’’, under a Freedom of Information act, ‘‘reeks of antisemitism and is reminiscent of the Mayors who surrendered information about Jews to German occupiers during WWII,’’ denounced Chief Rabbi of  the Netherlands, Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs.

Additionally, the group’s request demands to know what ties and staff relations exist with Jewish communities and organisations such as the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.

In a statement, Rabbi Jacobs, who also heads up the European Jewish Association’s Committee for Combatting Antisemitism, said :“The Rights Forum is well known to me. The clear inference is that some shadowy Zionist/Jewish cabal is operating in the Dutch university system. This reeks of antisemitism, but it comes as no surprise to me given this group’s reputation.’’

He added: ‘’What really concerns me is the number of universities that were so compliant with such a transparently antisemitic request.’’

“The difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism is now wafer thin. In all my many years in Holland I can seldom remember such a toxic environment for Jews. This is an appalling submission to the base instincts of an openly hostile group towards Israel, the world’s only Jewish State,” Rabbi Jacobs stressed.