Cohen orders anti-Semitism study

17 March 2005

AMSTERDAM — Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen has ordered a limited investigation into claims some primary school children are being taught to hate Jews.

He was reacting to reports of anti-Semitism at Het Mozaïek primary school in the Pijp district of the city, newspaper De Telegraaf said on Thursday.

Some students were said to have celebrated Mohammed B, the 26-year-old accused of murdering filmmaker Theo van Gogh, and of approving of the Holocaust.

“We are sticking the thermometer into a number of schools to see if these sorts of attitudes are at play there as well,” a spokesperson for the mayor told the newspaper.

She emphasised that it was unclear if the incident at Het Mozaïek was an isolated event or a sign of wider problems.

The research will be carried out in schools in several regions of the city.

The Anne Frank House indicated that while it had received reports of anti-Semitic attitudes in secondary schools, it was not aware of any signs of anti-Jewish feelings in primary schools.

Subject: Dutch news