Arutz Sheva-Israel National News and the Gesher Leadership Institute, in collaboration with the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Ami, teamed up to create a new video series titled "Jewish-Share," an initiative aimed at helping Israelis connect with their fellow Jews in the Diaspora.
In the third episode, Ruben van Praagh and Ellis van Praagh-Koopman from the Netherlands talk with Ayala Leibowitz, a member of the Ariel youth movement in Israel.
Ayala opened the conversation by stating, "It's very important for us not only to be us but to be connected to all the Jews around the world. We organized a project where we talked to girls in a class in Toronto about the way they live and how they experienced the war from afar. There are many other points where we see our togetherness – even with Jews who are far from us."
Ellis and Ruben spoke about the challenges facing Dutch Jews, in light also of the antisemitic riots there a few months ago. Ruben: "I am a member of the board of the Jewish community in Utrecht and we definitely noticed a nationwide rise in antisemitism, mainly connected to 'pro-Palestinian' protests. Obviously, antisemitism is not equal to pro-Palestinian, but it is more of an anti-Jewish issue. We didn't experience it personally, fortunately, but we witnessed vandalism and graffiti in the streets. About a week ago, we attended a memorial ceremony, and someone in front of us at the event was cursed by several children who were standing on the nearby street. We haven’t experienced serious violence here in Utrecht, it has mainly been in other places in Europe, but that incident in Amsterdam was very regretful."
Ellis adds that she is in contact with her relatives in Israel and they talk about their mutual difficulties, and “she finds amusing that each side believes that the challenges facing the other are more stressful.”
Ayala responded, saying, “We are ready here to welcome you. We want you to come. We are living our day-to-day lives. We know lots of soldiers and lots of people that fell and the hostages, and we think about them all the time, but it's still safe to walk around here and we still have our freedom. We always pray for them and think about them.”
When asked how much things have changed since the antisemitic riots in Amsterdam against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, Ruben answers: "The government started to take control of things after this incident. For about three years we had a special coordinator against antisemitism, but his office took a significant boost after what happened, and we can feel it. Government ministers are in contact with Jews, we have been invited to the legislature for discussions on the issue, and there is a desire of ministers to come and learn about community life and our concerns, which have been downplayed for a long time.”
“For the Jewish community,” says Ruben, “it was a very bad event, but good things came out of it."
Ayala asked the two how they maintain the unity and strength of their Jewish community and Ruben responded: "We organize more activities in our community, and in addition, Israeli representatives come to our communities more than in the past. This stems from a place of connection and a desire to express support for Israel and the Jewish people. There were actually events here where people shared their experiences with their relatives in Israel. There is more contact between the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities, which reach out to each other in order to create collaborations."
Ellis spoke about the activities and celebrations that the Jewish community held during Hanukkah, about “Bnei Akiva, Tikvatenu and Habonim that are active youth movements in the Netherlands,” and Ruben added that, “the Israeli Embassy has got a lot of staff and they promote cultural Jewish life all over the country.”
In response to the question how she feels in Israel on a personal level, Ayala responded that she hasn’t been involved in any violent incident and does, “feel safe in the streets. I do know that our soldiers are protecting us and they make me feel safe.
She also shared the story of the late Sgt. (Res.) Yedidya Bloch, who was a friend of hers, and who, despite the pain after his death, left behind a lot of hope. "I can tell you about my good friend's uncle, who was a very special and happy person, and was always trying to do the best for others. He instilled in us the hope that we can handle everything, that we are strong, and that we will win," she said and concluded with her wishes for the Jews in the Diaspora, “I hope you say stay safe and everything will be good there. Israel is calling you if you want to ever come and hopefully, no more bad stuff will happen.”
Ellis concluded, saying that we “pray for peace and happiness for all of Israel. Besides all the negative news, there's also a lot of support for our Jewish communities within Israel and outside of Israel, such as the myriad of cards with support and prayers from non-Jewish people, and Ruben said, “At a time when we focus so much on the bad news and all the antisemitism, we see that there is still solid support for Israel and the Jewish people.”