Jewish organizations in the Netherlands have filed a lawsuit against a far-right politician over comments he made comparing COVID-19 restrictions to the Holocaust.
According to a report on Tuesday by NLTimes.nl, the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) and the Central Jewish Consultation filed summary proceedings against Thierry Baudet, leader of the Forum for Democracy party.
The groups are asking the court in Amsterdam to declare Baudet’s statements unlawful. The lawsuit, which is supported by four Holocaust survivors, will appear in court next Wednesday, NLTimes.nl said.
Baudet made the controversial statements on a number of occasions in November via social media. Among other things, he said that unvaccinated people "are the new Jews and the looking-away excluders are the new Nazis and NSB members."
The two organizations argue that in doing so, Baudet downplays the Holocaust. They noted that the fact that Baudet put two photos side by side, one showing a child that can't go to a Sinterklaas party and the other of a child with a Star of David awaiting deportation, is an abomination.
The Central Jewish Consultation and CIDI described the statements made by Baudet seriously insulting and unnecessarily hurtful to the murdered victims of the Holocaust, the survivors, and their relatives.
They demand, by order of a penalty of 25,000 euros per day, that Baudet remove the statements from his social media platforms. They also want him to no longer use images of the Holocaust in the context of the coronavirus debate.
The Forum for Democracy party seeks a Dutch exit from the European Union and stricter immigration policies.
In 2020, Baudet temporarily resigned as leader of the Forum for Democracy following reports that members of the party’s youth movement had engaged in anti-Semitic behavior.
Earlier this year, Baudet provoked outrage by saying that the trials against Nazis in Nuremberg, Germany, were “illegitimate.”