Dutch Jews ‘outraged’ by anti-gay fliers citing the Torah

AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Dutch police are considering whether to indict for incitement to hatred three men who passed out fliers in Amsterdam condemning homosexuality, citing it “being forbidden by Judaism, Christianity and Islam.”

The men, aged 29 to 39, surrendered themselves to police after officers questioned a man whose car the suspects said they borrowed to distribute the fliers, the NOS broadcaster reported last week. The officers reached the car owner after reviewing footage from security cameras of cars parked in the area near the time that the fliers began showing up in mailboxes.

NOS said police did not release any details about the suspects, except that they do not appear to belong to any radical Muslim groups. The men said during investigation that they wanted to “start a discussion” on homosexuality.

The Central Jewish Board of the Netherlands, the umbrella group of the country’s Jewish organizations, said in a statement several days after the discovery of the fliers that it disagrees with their anti-gay message and regrets the citing of Judaism by the people responsible for distributing them.

The text of the fliers quotes a passage from the Christian Bible and another from the Torah condemning homosexuality. The latter, from Leviticus, reads: “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.”

According to the fliers, children raised by homosexuals are likelier to be sexually abused and homosexuals are likelier to commit suicide. They feature a picture of a rabbi wearing a prayer shawl, an imam and a priest.

Central Jewish Board Chairman Ron van der Wieken said his organization was “outraged” by the “discriminatory fliers,” which he said the community “strongly rejects,” adding it is “full of glaring lies.”