ANP
NOS Nieuws•gisteren, 22:26
The three Jewish schools in the Netherlands, all three in Amsterdam, will close their doors tomorrow. According to one of them, the Jewish school community Cheider, the municipality and the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV) are not doing enough to guarantee the safety of students and staff now that a war is raging between Hamas and Israel. The two other schools do not want to respond to questions from NOS.
“Safety is a priority,” says Herman Loonstein, chairman of Cheider, in the NPO Radio 1 program News and Co. “We have had discussions to maximize this. Despite commitments, we see no improvement. That is why we unfortunately had to decide to close the schools.”
Loonstein says the school will remain closed until the government does more. He does not want to say what exactly he is thinking about, “because of safety”. According to him, there are no concrete threats at the moment.
Call Hamas
What is causing great unrest in the Jewish community is a call from former Hamas general Khaled Meshaal. That called on Muslims in Arab countries to join the fight against Israel. He told Muslims worldwide to support the Palestinian cause and provide assistance.
The municipality of Amsterdam and the NCTV say they have been extra alert since last weekend. “Where necessary, we take extra measures, both visible and invisible,” says a spokesperson for Mayor Halsema. “We are alert, but that does not remove all feelings of unrest. That is why the schools will close tomorrow. The mayor is in close contact with the NCTV and the Jewish community.”
Chanan Hertzberger, chairman of the Central Jewish Consultation partnership, speaks of an inevitable decision. “Although our concerns were shared, it was not possible to obtain clarity on scaling up security in a timely manner. There was therefore no other choice to come to this regrettable decision.”
The CJO and the schools say they assume that the schools will open as normal next Monday.
2023-10-12 20:26:24
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