A Dutch Jews is speaking out after being subjected to constant antisemitic harassment by a gang in the town he lives in for two years.
Wijchen resident Kevin Ritstier, 34, spoke to the de Gelderlander newspaper about his experience in order to raise awareness of antisemitism in the Netherlands.
The gang began to abuse him in 2020 when he was coming come from a nearby bar mitzvah in a kippah and tallit and the gang saw that he was Jewish. After that, he was constantly harassed by the gang at his house, where he lives with his wife and one-year old son.
“They shout all kinds of slogans,” Ritstier said. “‘Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas,’ ‘cancer Jew.'”
The gang would stalk Ritstier as he walked down the street, shouting antisemitic abuse at him and sometimes trying to kick him.
Once, the gang beat up Ritstier on his porch. “My leg was cut open and I had a burst lip and bruises.”
After the attack happened, local police put his name on a rapid response list for his safety.
The gang members who harassed and attacked have never been arrested. According to Ritstier, one of them was fined.
He added that the harassing behavior has continued, and that he has continued to call the police after each incident. Though he has been harassed and assaulted during the past two years, the police have claimed there is “insufficient evidence” to press charges.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)