Dutch TV Pulls Jews-killed-Jesus Ad Off Air Following Uproar
The video, aired at the end of a children’s program on a Roman Catholic station, sparked complaints by the Dutch Israeli community.
A Dutch Catholic public broadcaster has apologized and pulled off the air a video clip featuring a song which accuses Jews of plotting to kill Jesus.
- U.S. anti-Semitism on the Decline. but 26% Still Believe the Jews Killed Jesus
- Pope Exonerates Jews for Death of Jesus
- The Fine Line Between Criticizing Israel and anti-Semitism
- Harvard Students Apologize for Saying Jews Should Be Persecuted for 'Killing Jesus'
- Austrian Mayor Quits After Saying Jews Should Be Hanged
The video, which was aired earlier this month at the end of a children’s program on the Rooms-Katholiek Kerkgenootschap (Roman Catholic Church Association) television station featured a song by Pearl Jozefzoon, about how Jews regarded Jesus. “Do not follow him. He is mad. Break him, break his heart. Kill him. Bury him with criticism, do not love him,” the lyrics said.
The station, known as RKK, pulled the video off the air last week following complaints by the Dutch Israelite Religious Community umbrella organization, or NIK. The Dutch Trouw daily newspaper reported last week that the broadcaster apologized in a statement for airing the video.
“Vilifying the Jewish people’s past is to vilify present-day Jews, especially when the audience are youths,” Ruben Vis, the NIK’s secretary and vice president of the European Jewish Congress, told the Dutch daily Trouw. He added that “the church has done this for a very long time, and very well and effectively.”
RKK’s broadcast of a Papal address received 4.2 million viewers earlier this year.
The Dutch government currently provides subsidies of $18 million to nine religious broadcasters, including the Dutch community’s Jewish broadcaster Joodse Omroep and RKK.
