Illustrative: The kippah worn by observant Jews. Photo: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

A Dutch Jew regularly subjected to antisemitic harassment in the town where he lives has spoken about his experience publicly to raise awareness of how Jew-hatred impacts its victims.

Kevin Ritstier, 34, a Jewish resident of the town of Wijchen in the eastern part of the Netherlands, this week highlighted his situation in interviews with local media as well as a lecture at a local museum.

Ritstier said he had been subjected to antisemitic harassment from the same gang of young males for two years. His ordeal began in 2020, when he attended a Bar Mitzvah in the nearby city of Nijmegen.

“I wore a kippah and a tallit,” Ritstier told newspaper de Gelderlander. “I think I was spotted then.”

From that point on, Ritstier has been continually targeted at his home in the center of Wijchen, where he lives with his wife and their one-year-old son.

“They shout all kinds of slogans,” Ritstier said. “‘Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas,’ ‘cancer Jew.'” The gang also follows Ritstier when he walks down the street, taunting him with antisemitic invective and sometimes attempting to kick him.

On one occasion, Ritstier was beaten up outside his front door. “My leg was cut open and I had a burst lip and bruises,” he said. Following that attack, local police placed him on a rapid response list in case of future outrages.

However, none of the gang members have been arrested for their harassment of Ritstier. He said that a fine had been handed to one of his tormentors, while police officers have held conversations with the gang members, but the harassment has continued.

Ritstier said that he contacts the police after every incident. “You can call me a ‘cancer Jew,’ but I’ll report it,” he said. He added that police had remarked that “I call very often.”

A police spokesperson said that Ritstier’s case was being “taken very seriously and we have looked for appropriate solutions in collaboration with the municipality.”

The spokesperson however stressed that Ritstier’s case “is really an exception within the municipality of Wijchen.” The police had conducted a criminal investigation but no charges were pressed “due to insufficient evidence.”

On Thursday night, Ritstier spoke on the subject of antisemitism at a local museum that is currently staging an exhibition about the Jewish community in the area. He said that his goal was to tell his audience, “Don’t look away. I want to reach people who can see discrimination, but do nothing about it.”