Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten on Monday urged Jews thinking of leaving the Netherlands due to rising antisemitism to stay.
“I would like to ask those people: Do not give in to it,” he said at a Kristallnacht commemoration in Amsterdam, adding, “Because this is your home—the Netherlands is our shared home.”
Jetten acknowledged growing fears among Dutch Jews and condemned threats against Jewish institutions.
He shared that he had recently received a mezuzah, gifted to him by Rabbi Yanki Jacobs, director of Chabad on Campus Netherlands, in the Delft blue style of fine Dutch china.
“Apparently, fewer and fewer people are affixing the traditional mezuzah to the doorpost of their homes, to avoid negative reactions,” he said.
Jetten stated that he affixed the mezuzah to the doorframe of his residence because he wants “to be prime minister of a country where Jewish life is visible.”
He described the deliberations of members of the Jewish community on whether their children have a future in the Netherlands as “deeply saddening.”
He said his government had set aside more funding to protect Jewish sites and was working to strengthen Jewish communal life.
‘We support Hamas’ banners in Amsterdam protest
The appeal comes amid strained relations between the Netherlands and Israel in the wake of the war sparked by the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Zvi Vapni, told JNS last month that ties were likely at their lowest point in history.
The Dutch government has banned goods from Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, and Israel has responded diplomatically. Israeli President Isaac Herzog has criticized the Dutch government’s approach to the Jewish state and called for renewed dialogue between the two countries.
Jetten’s government has also been criticized for refusing to take action against banners reading “We support Hamas,” including during protests on last month’s anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre and at an anti-Israel rally in Amsterdam on Sunday.
The Nov. 8 rally, branded the “Red Line” protest, saw a turnout of more than 200,000 people, according to co-organizer Amnesty International.
It was the fourth such mass rally in the Netherlands since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre.
Police arrested four people for “minor incidents,” according to Dutch daily De Telegraaf.
We support #Hamas tijdens de #rodelijndemonstratie in #Amsterdam eerder vandaag. Foto via goede vriend @NicoGarstman. https://t.co/INiXSmptcb pic.twitter.com/DbH77iIqS5
— Owen (@_owenobrien_) November 8, 2026
Jetten, who participated in a similar march last year but did not attend Sunday’s rally, defended his government’s approach at a press conference on Friday.
He said the government was “exerting greater political and diplomatic pressure” on Israel to honor its agreements on Gaza, while also increasing pressure on Hamas and other organizations carrying out “various operations that endanger the safety of ordinary Israelis,” according to AP.
The Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”), which marked its 88th anniversary on Monday night, was the Nazi state-led pogrom on the night of Nov. 9-10, 1938, that targeted Jews in Germany and Austria. At least 91 Jews were killed and thousands of synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses, schools and homes were ransacked and looted.
