Battling the Far Right in Holland, With a 735-Word Facebook Post
Lodewijk Asscher isn’t one to mince words when it comes to hatred on social media.
The descendant of Holocaust survivors who is running for prime minister sent a shot across the bow of far right leader Geert Wilders with a 735-word Facebook post titled “Disrespectful Dog.”
“Many of you possess a keen historical insight,” Asscher wrote sarcastically in that letter, which he addressed to online anti-Semites who have bombarded him with abuse.
Asscher, 42, said anti-Semitic attacks over his Jewish roots were causing him to limit his use of socal media, JTA reported.
But he insisted he would confront Wilders, who leads him in the polls and trumpets a harder line on Muslim immigrants.
“The politics of blame can never be the answer,” Asscher said.
Asscher also warned of the rise of populism globally, from the British vote in June to leave the European Union to Donald Trump’s victory.
“We have four years of President Trump ahead of us, and in our own country, Geert Wilders is ahead in the polls,” he noted.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO