Historic mikvah to be displayed at Holland museum

Published on September 12, 2011

A mikvah uncovered during construction will be restored in a museum as the oldest testament to Jewish life in Holland to date.

Re-examine kosher slaughter ban bill, Holland asked

Published on March 30, 2011

The head of the European Jewish Congress called on the Dutch prime minister to re-examine a proposed law that would ban kosher slaughter. The Dutch Parliament is scheduled to vote next week on the legislation, an amendment to the Commercial Slaughter Code which mandates that all animals for commercial slaughter must first be stunned, which is forbidden in shechitah, or kosher slaughter.

Hirsi Ali, critic of Islam, honored for courage

By Tom Tugend
Published on October 29, 2008

A tall African-born woman, raised a devout Muslim but now one of Islam's sharpest critics, last week calmly dismantled some of the favorite shibboleths of American liberalism.

Films: Romantic triangle survives in the midst of hell

By Tom Tugend
Published on November 8, 2007

"I'm a very special Holocaust survivor," Jack Polak says. "I was in the camps with my wife and my girlfriend, and, believe me, it wasn't easy." This may sound like a line from the new genre of Holocaust films with humor, but Polak (who is Jacob on his birth certificate, Jack in America, Jaap to his Dutch friends and Jab to his wife) is just stating the facts in the documentary feature, "Steal a Pencil for Me."

‘War on terror’ needs Muslims to be part of solution

By Mona Eltahawy
Published on November 1, 2007

How do you prevent that young Muslim from being lured by radical ideas? That was the question at the heart of a conference organized at The Hague recently by the Dutch national coordinator for counterterrorism. As Tariq Ramadan reminded the conference, preventative methods are bound to fail unless they include Muslims as part of the solution. To only view Muslims as potential radicals is the quickest way to alienate the very people needed to solve the problems.

Film director Verhoeven defies Dutch Shoah myth in ‘Black Book’ thriller

By Tom Tugend
Published on March 29, 2007

"Black Book" is a first-class thriller, pitting the Dutch resistance against the Nazi occupiers in the waning months of World War II, and it holds plenty of unexpected plot twists.

Anti-Semitism Acts Climb in Holland

By Rachel Levy
Published on January 15, 2004

Anti-Semitic acts in Holland rose significantly in 2002, but few cases were serious, according to a new report.

World Briefs

By Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Published on January 23, 2003

Saudi Arabia must reduce its support for terror or suffer the consequences, Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman said. Speaking Sunday in New York, the Connecticut senator said he told the Saudis during his recent trip through the Middle East that if they don't change their backing for terror, "our relationship with them will not go on as before."

Florys Story

By Lori Schneide
Published on April 8, 1999

In the living room of her Newport Beach home, Flory Van Beek reaches up to a shelf and takes down a plain-white book the size of an encyclopedia and engraved with a Star of David. "This was published by the Dutch government," she says. "It has the names of the almost 140,000 Dutch Jews who died during the war." Flory flips through the book, searching for her mother's name.