Dutch Jewish woman evicted after anti-Semitic abuse, threats by neighbor
Published July 4, 2016
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — A Dutch court reviewing a neighborly dispute ordered the eviction of a Jewish woman whose neighbor reportedly threatened to kill her and used anti-Semitic insults against her.
The court ruled in favor of the Ymere housing corporation, which asked the court to evict the woman, Gabriela Hirschberg, the AT5 television channel reported last week.
Ymere asked the court to have Hirschberg evicted in connection with her years-long quarrel with her Amsterdam apartment building neighbor.
Last year, the neighbor offered in a Facebook post to pay 10,000 euros, about $11,500, to anyone willing to kill Hirschberg. The man posted the message recently along with anti-Semitic statements.
“I have one desire in my life: To tear out this nest of devils,” he wrote in reference to Hirschberg’s apartment. Naming Hirschberg and her partner, he added, “Each head is worth 10,000 euros to me.”
The neighbor also wrote: “Anyone may come along as long as I have the pleasure of punching the lights out.” Facebook followers offered to come and help find “a final solution” to the problem — language that echoes Nazi rhetoric about Jews during the Holocaust.
The two neighbors have been in conflict since 2009, when Hirschberg complained to police about the neighbor for excessive noise, The Telegraaf reported. They have since filed multiple complaints against each other, including for the destruction of property.
Ymere sought to have Hirschberg evicted rather than her neighbor also because she at one point was over $2,000 behind on her rent, AT5 reported. The debt has since been resolved. She was selected for eviction also for subletting a room in her apartment, the report also said.
Hirschberg said she was ill, calling her eviction, which is to become effective on July 7, “inhumane.” Ymere confirmed they are aware of her illness, but said it was a chronic condition that cannot interfere with the decision to have her evicted.
Peter de Vries, a prominent journalist who covered the affair for the De Telegraaf daily, criticized the ruling as “turning reality on its head” by punishing the victim, he wrote on Twitter.
