The Netherlands opens a Holocaust museum as protesters oppose Israeli president’s presence

By MOLLY QUELL and BARBARA SURK
Associated Press

AMSTERDAM (AP) — The Netherlands has opened a National Holocaust Museum in a ceremony presided over by the Dutch king and Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, whose presence triggered protests by pro-Palestinian groups. The museum in Amsterdam tells the stories of some of the 102,000 Jews who were deported from the Netherlands and murdered in Nazi camps. Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered amid tightened security at the Waterloo Square near the museum and the synagogue. The protest leaders said they were against Herzog’s presence, not the museum and what it commemorates. Herzog hailed the Netherlands’s initiative to create a new Holocaust museum that he said was a testament to raising antisemitism around the world.