A gardening company in The Hague, the Netherlands, refused to carry out work for the city’s Reform Jewish community due to the war in the Gaza Strip, the Center for Information and Documentation Israel, a Dutch-Jewish group, said on Friday.
“The madness rages on: The Liberal Jewish community in The Hague was told by a gardener that his workers do not wish to carry out tree pruning, because they do not want to work for a Jewish institution due to the situation in Gaza,” the Jewish advocacy group said on X, sharing a anonymized screenshot of the email received by the synagogue.
According to the NGO, the cancellation came three days before the work was supposed to be carried out—after the deal had been sealed.
“Unfortunately, I must inform you that we will not carry out the work,” the email read. “My colleagues indicate that, due to the terrible situation in Gaza, they do not wish to work for a Jewish institution at this time.”
The Hague City Council members of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, Christian Union and Reformed Political Party on Saturday urged the municipality to take action against the gardening company.
“Can the municipal executive explain its role in this incident? What prior involvement was there in this contract to prune a monumental tree? What did the municipal executive do after learning of the sudden cancellation of the work and the company’s motivation? How was the Reform Jewish community assisted?” they wrote in formal questions.
“Does the municipal executive agree with the Hague People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy and Christian Union/Reformed Political Party that it is inappropriate to work with with organizations or companies that make such blatantly antisemitic statements?” the parties asked.
Earlier this month, Douwe Bob, the Netherlands’ representative in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, refused to play for Jewish children at the Jom Ha Voetbal sports event in Amsterdam, citing alleged “expressions of Zionism on pamphlets and things” at the venue.
Dilan Yesilgoz, the national leader of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, said Douwe’s actions echoed antisemitism from the Nazi era, but later appeared to express regret over her choice of words.
In 2024, the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel recorded 421 antisemitic incidents, a record tally.
The government’s national coordinator for combating antisemitism, Eddo Verdoner, called the reality reflected in the data “shameful” and added that Jew-hatred is becoming more openly tolerated because perpetrators are no longer ashamed.
Several violent incidents included in the annual report happened on Nov. 7-8, 2024.
On those days, hundreds of Muslim immigrants participated in a series of attacks on Israelis who were visiting Amsterdam for a soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and the local AFC Ajax team. In coordinating the violent attacks on messaging platforms and online, several of the perpetrators referred to the action as a “Jew hunt” and used antisemitic rhetoric.
