The Hilversum councillor Bart Heller has resigned immediately.
The reason for the departure of the GroenLinks official is an email he sent, in which, according to Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, he allegedly made antisemitic remarks. Heller regrets sending the email, but still stands by the content of his message.
Heller responded to a letter from a local resident, who, on behalf of the Israeli Embassy in the Netherlands, requested the municipality’s participation in the commemorations of 7 October 2023. The entire council was asked to have the town hall illuminated in orange to show solidarity with the Bibas family, who were kidnapped by Hamas on the aforementioned date and murdered during their captivity.
“I cannot close my eyes to the facts in Gaza, to the ongoing, immense suffering in Gaza and increasingly also in the occupied West Bank. If my views in this extremely polarised time are incompatible with my position as councillor, the best job in the world, this deeply saddens me, but it is an utterly negligible price compared to the immense price that children in Gaza pay every day,” wrote the GroenLinks politician.
“With a heavy heart, I hereby submit my resignation as councillor of the municipality of Hilversum,” reads his farewell letter.
Heller wrote that the email affected him, but that he had also been misled. The email was sent to all councillors, but the resigned councillor thought it had been addressed personally to him. He admits that this was a “huge misjudgment.”
Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs soon informed Heller that he found this email antisemitic. Heller was deeply affected by receiving this response from the chief rabbi, as he wrote himself. “I should never have sent that email,” he concluded.
