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Embracing the dissenting Jew (from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv)

Should Tel Aviv become the sister city of Amsterdam? And if Amsterdam says no, is the city giving in to anti-Semitic forces - or daring to embrace critical Jewish voices in a way Israel no longer can?

By Markha Valenta
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Portuguese Synagogue, Amsterdam.

Portuguese Synagogue, Amsterdam. Wikicommons. Some rights reserved.

A fierce debate has been taking place on whether Amsterdam should become Tel Aviv’s sister city. The Labour mayor of Amsterdam, Eberhaard van der Laan, has been a strong proponent, as have the Liberals. Proposed in 2013 by Ronny Naftaniel, the departing director of CIDI (the Dutch pro-Israel lobby organization), the idea was initially welcomed by the city council, then interrupted by Israel’s violent incursion into Gaza last summer, and now once again seemed to have the support it needed to pass.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0