Labour councillor under investigation over pictures of him in an Adolf Hitler costume for children’s hospice fancy dress fundraiser

Every Day during the Corona crisis our Advisory Board Member Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs (NL) writes a diary, on request of the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam, which is published on the website of the NIW, the only Jewish Dutch Magazine. Rabbi Jacobs is the head of Inter Governmental Relationships at the Rabbinical Centre of Europe. We will be regularly publishing a selection of his informative, sometimes light hearted, but always wise pieces.
For our Dutch readers you can follow the diary every day at NIW home page: https://niw.nl
Diary October 26, 2020
This is, and sometimes I forget the fact, a diary in corona time. I felt that ‘corona time’ particularly today. It is not only the nagging feeling of uncertainty, but also the media that never stop talking about it and, naturally enough, the discussion within the Jewish community itself.
Incidentally, that discussion taking place both within and outside of the Jewish community will be completely identical.
I think we have roughly three schools of thought on Covid 19. The ultra-orthodoxy, the moderates and the apostates.
Ultra-Orthodoxy almost compulsively adheres to the rules, does not take any risks and tries to convince others to live in isolation.
The apostates think everything is nonsense. Nobody knows anyway and you cannot prevent it, and it is all chronically exaggerated.
I count myself among the second school of thought, the moderates, who try to stay calm, not to exaggerate, but who refuse to downplay reality. But there was a crack this morning in that staying calm. And then what do I do? I WhatsApp’ed my professor. Who is my professor? The husband of a former student with whom I have regular contact about all kinds of things, but especially about legal matters. Just an example of such a contact: that former student of mine, now a middle-aged lawyer, has a bit of the same problem as I do.
She can’t say no! And so, when I have something on my mind again, I get her on speed dial.
Years ago, I met an old man who was quite young at heart. He looked like my grandfather in appearance. He was one of the few who survived Auschwitz as a child. He was friendly, easy-going, reliable. The kind of person I wouldn’t think twice about asking to bring € 100,000 in cash from A to B.
However, he had a tricky problem: he had a habit of stealing! Not just because, but only when he needed something. This is how he managed to survive Auschwitz.
After the war, as I have written before, the welcome-home-in-the Netherlands was not always warm (understatement!). His parents had been murdered, he had no family and he had no possessions, no roof over his head and no form of income. And so, if he needed anything, clothing or food, he continued his learned survival technique and had no qualms about stealing.
And now he got caught. He had, if I remember correctly, Fl. 4000 received from the WUV, the Persecution Victims Benefit Act (a fund paid in compensation by Germany for Dutch Jewish citizens who suffered under the Nazis), for the purchase of an electrically adapted disabled car. He had managed to get that car for Fl. 2000 (cash, no receipts) and the remaining Fl. 2000 he had put in his pocket. Busted! And so, a lawsuit. I engaged my former student and there we stood in the courtroom in front of three honourable people in togas.
At the request of the defendant’s lawyer, my former student, I was asked to say a few words at the very end of the trial. Your Honour, I can still hear myself say, of course theft is punishable. You have a duty to enforce the law. But do you realize that the same legal system that correctly indicates that the defendant did something against the law, do you realize that the same system sent him to Auschwitz?
And to the representative of the fund, who was present as plaintiff, I said that I refuse to understand how, as the body responsible for making amends, he would take it into his head (I had phrased it a little more sharply) to give this survivor the indignity of standing in court. The judges got it: immediate acquittal.
That former student is now a mother and married to a professor. And that’s my professor. We actually only know each other via WhatsApp and telephone, have never had any real contact, but he is now my point of contact for all information about corona. What is nonsensical conspiracy theory and what is correct. Where the boundary between ultra-Orthodox, moderate and apostate actually lies.
And so, this morning, when I was just at a low ebb and contemplating switching from moderate to ultra-orthodox, it just took a WhatsApp to my medical spiritual counsellor the professor, and see, I am one of the moderates again.
I do feel the link to the war strongly. I am beginning to realize that our Lockdown is in no way comparable to the two years and eight months that my father was locked up, without a laptop, without a phone, without any contact with the outside world that was life-threatening. I feel guilty that I never felt that. I now understand very well that my father, like almost all fathers of my generation, never mentioned their Lockdown.
They couldn’t and wouldn’t talk about it. After the death of my dear and sensible father, I wanted to talk to his niece, Aunt Wies, who was also at the same hiding address, about their period in hiding. Please, she said, don’t do this to me. I can’t and don’t want to think about it!
But because my professor, who is always available for me and regularly calls me back from the operating theatre, had put me back on the right mental track, I was able to quietly answer a number of phone calls from people who sought support from me. And there were more than usual today, unfortunately.

The Jewish Small Communities Network was founded as a project in 2003 and registered as a charity in 2016, the Jewish Small Communities Network (JSCN) exists to support, connect, and advocate for the 100 small Jewish communities spread across 72 towns and rural areas in the UK. These are the communities outside the well-known Jewish centres of London, Manchester, and Leeds—but together, they represent around 25% of the UK’s Jewish population, or 65,000 people.

The Jewish Small Communities Network is a bridge—between individuals and their nearest synagogue, between isolated families and the wider Jewish world, and between communities and the organisations that serve them.

The European Jewish Association is proud and delighted to welcome another organisation to our growing roster of partners and communities.
We have just concluded and signed a memorandum of understanding with The FORUM der Joodse Organisaties (FJO), an organisation that we have increasingly had closer ties with. A formal arrangement was the next logical step in our mutually beneficial ongoing relationship.
We look forward to continuing our work for the betterment of Belgium and European Jewry together.

Amid the dramatic rise in levels of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism and violent demonstrations on campuses across Europe, encountering a lack of action by European governments or even a tacit encouragement in cases like Belgium and Spain, the European Jewish Association (EJA), representing hundreds of communities across the continent, established a forum of senior lawyers and Jewish jurists from across the continent to develop legal tools to enhance enforcement against manifestations of anti-Semitism.

The lawyers surveyed the legal tools – laws and enforcement mechanisms existing in each country – and discussed current challenges, such as the lack of knowledge among plaintiffs and police, legal loopholes, the sluggishness of the judicial system, and also addressed the distorted reception of the International Criminal Court in the case of the aggression between Hamas leaders who instigated the terrible massacre of October 7 and the Prime Minister and Defense Minister of the attacked state.

The forum decided on a series of operative steps, including calling for examining arrests until the completion of proceedings against inciters against Jews and Israelis in order to create deterrence, legislative processes to define the personal responsibility of politicians and government officials to prevent incitement and hate speech, measures to expedite and accelerate legal proceedings against anti-Semitic attacks, and of course, legal action against anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.

The Chairman of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, who initiated the forum, noted that: “Unfortunately, too many governments across Europe are not truly willing to combat the plague of anti-Semitism that has reached unprecedented levels since October 7. The ‘National Plans to Combat Anti-Semitism’ and the IHRA definitions are a good tools, but as long as they are not implemented, they remain merely declarative. The plans are shelved and reality is worsening and becoming more dangerous day by day. It begins with people being afraid or hesitant to file complaints against anti-Semitic attackers, continues with the lack of response and the absence of an effective response from law enforcement authorities, and strengthens in the face of the fact that even when an offender is brought to court, the process takes years and in the case of punishment – there is no longer an effective message for deterrence and prevention. If governments, law enforcement authorities, and university officials fail or refuse to address the challenge, then Jewish lawyers will do so. We intend to confront anti-Semitism directly, develop evidence-based legal tools, and disseminate an operative guide that will define to the police what constitutes anti-Semitic incidents and how they should act in each such case. Rabbi Margolin noted that all Jewish lawyers who are members of the forum volunteer fully and out of deep commitment.”

Adv. Pascal Markovitz, European Jewish Association Advisory Board Member and Lawyer at the Paris Bar, a pioneer in the legal fight against anti-Semitic phenomena in Europe, noted that in France, effective legislation has been developed against anti-Semitism and BDS, and the country has also adopted the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. However, Markovitz noted that there is significant difficulty in enforcing the laws and imposing sanctions on anti-Semites.

Adv. Avram Ishai Head of the Legal Center for Combatting Antisemitism – The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists (IJLL), which partnered in convening the forum, noted that in Germany too, there is appropriate legislation against anti-Semitism, but the problem lies in enforcement when police lack the tools to identify and address incidents of anti-Semitism.

Wester Meijdam, Policy Officer at the Office of the European Commission Coordinator on combatting Antisemitism, revealed to the lawyers that 71% of Jews in Europe refrain from wearing or wearing items that could identify them as Jews. About 38% of European Jews have considered or are considering emigrating because they do not feel safe in their countries. 9 out of 10 Jews believe that anti-Semitism in their country has worsened.

Adv. Jonathan Turner, Chief Executive, UK Lawyers for Israel, noted that the police in Britain are ignoring the Jewish community – especially in London. While some police officers are very good and deserving, unfortunately, it seems that police commanders are reluctant to deal with the problem of anti-Semitism directly and comprehensively and fear internal rebellion, as a significant number of the officers under their command are Muslims.

The legal advisor to the European Jewish Association, EJA, Adv. Shlomo Dahan, noted that the guide to be developed for enforcement agencies will clarify to officers in the field how to identify and act from the moment a complaint is received to bringing the suspects to justice. The guide will detail to prosecutors in each country the legal channels they must take to achieve justice and how to distinguish when an utterance or act is an anti-Semitic statement or incitement, defined as a crime according to European Union guidelines.