A ceremony commemorating the Jews of Rotterdam who were murdered in the Holocaust has become the focus of a political dispute over the participation of Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Zvi Aviner Vapni.
The ambassador was invited to speak at the annual ceremony at Loods 24, the warehouse from which 6,790 Rotterdam Jews were deported to concentration and extermination camps in 1942. His planned appearance, however, has drawn opposition from political parties, neighborhood councils and pro-Palestinian organizations demanding that his invitation be withdrawn.
Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Zvi Aviner Vapni
Rotterdam Mayor Carola Schouten said she “understands the concerns” raised by those opposing the ambassador’s participation and announced that she would hold talks with the ceremony’s organizers “to safeguard the dignity of the commemoration as much as possible.”
She stressed, however, that the purpose of the ceremony, scheduled for July 30, is to honor the Holocaust victims and the suffering inflicted on them and their families.
Schouten stopped short of recommending that organizers rescind the invitation. At the same time, she received a letter from dozens of organizations, including the Rotterdam Palestine Coalition and Een Ander Joods Geluid, or A Different Jewish Voice, urging her to pressure organizers to remove the ambassador from the program.
The groups also called on the mayor to boycott the ceremony herself should the ambassador remain involved. They argued that the dispute was not merely about one event, but about whether the principle of “Never Again” is applied universally.
Jewish organizations in the Netherlands sharply condemned the effort to exclude a representative of the State of Israel.
CIDI, the Netherlands-based Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, accused opponents of exploiting a Holocaust memorial for political purposes.
“Politicians believe it is appropriate to hijack a memorial ceremony for the Jews of Rotterdam deported during the Holocaust for the sake of their activism,” the organization said. “They are deliberately choosing polarization. Respect for the Holocaust victims is being pushed aside in favor of their political agenda. It is deeply sad.”
CIDI said anti-Israel organizations had mobilized to disrupt a Jewish memorial ceremony solely because a representative of the world’s only Jewish state had been invited by Jewish organizations themselves.
“These organizations are once again exploiting and desecrating a Holocaust commemoration,” it said.
Other Jewish institutions urged political parties and neighborhood councils to abandon what they described as a divisive course.
“Loods 24 must remain a place of remembrance, not exclusion,” they said. “This is not a political choice, but a moral obligation to honor the Holocaust victims without importing the hatred of the present into the ceremony.”
The dispute reflects a broader shift in public debate in parts of Europe since the outbreak of the war.
While the participation of Israeli representatives in Holocaust memorial ceremonies was once largely regarded as uncontroversial, the presence of an Israeli ambassador at an event honoring Holocaust victims has now triggered political opposition, boycott calls and demands for his removal.
For the Jewish community in the Netherlands, the controversy represents a troubling precedent in which political hostility toward Israel is spilling into Holocaust remembrance itself.