Peter Malcontent, lecturer-researcher at Utrecht University and author of An open nerve. Netherlands, Israel & Palestine, finds the responses to the message ‘typical’. “The polarized reaction in the Netherlands to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Territories is partly due to the long shadow of the Second World War,” the researcher explains. “In no other country in Western Europe were so many Jews deported during the Second World War as in the Netherlands. For many people, especially in the Jewish communities, that war trauma still has an effect. They are mainly pro-Israel, because they believe that the Jews deserve a safe home.”
Utrecht flag at half-mast leads to a flood of online hate reactions, why is this conflict so sensitive?
