"Search your own actions, not the suitcases of Jews": A sharp appeal to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands
The World Zionist Organization sent a sharp letter to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands following reports of delays and customs checks of Israeli and Jewish passengers at Schiphol Airport, against the backdrop of a law banning the import of products from Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights, and Jerusalem. The letter claims that enforcement has been expanded to personal luggage and that this constitutes institutional discrimination and persecution of innocent citizens.
The World Zionist Organization, through its Head of the Department for Combating Antisemitism, Yifat Ovadia Lusky, sent a sharp letter to Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof and Foreign Minister Tom Brandsen. The letter was sent following testimonies from Israeli and Jewish passengers who landed at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and claimed they were detained for customs checks on their personal luggage. The checks are conducted against the backdrop of a new Dutch law that came into effect on September 22, banning the import of products originating from Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights, and Jerusalem. According to the organization, enforcement has been expanded to personal luggage, including souvenirs and gifts. Ovadia Lusky wrote that this constitutes "personal harassment and persecution of innocent citizens" and institutional discrimination that crosses a moral red line. She directed the Prime Minister to a charged chapter in the history of Amsterdam's Jews, regarding Holocaust survivors who returned to the city and were required to make retroactive payments. The organization demands that enforcement procedures at Schiphol be suspended and that customs policy not become national or ethnic profiling.