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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 18 april 2023
Dutch intel agency paints grim picture of multiple threats

By MIKE CORDER the report said. Russia also
Associated Press has long been actively try-
ZOETERMEER, Netherlands ing to steal secrets from
(AP) — The Dutch national the Netherlands and other
intelligence agency paint- European and NATO allies,
ed a grim picture Monday the agency said. The report
of a growing number of in- highlighted the agency’s
ternal and external threats involvement last year in
to the rule of law in the the expulsion of 17 Russian
Netherlands compounded diplomats from the Nether-
by Russia’s war in Ukraine, lands who were suspected
international cyberattacks of espionage, and the un-
and espionage. masking of a Russian agent
In its annual report, the who tried to infiltrate the
General Intelligence and Hague-based International
Security Service called Chi- Criminal Court.
na “the biggest threat to The agency pointed to a
the Netherlands’ econom- massive cyberattack tar-
ic security.” geting NATO member Al-
The agency’s director-gen- bania last year as an exam-
eral, Erik Akerboom, said ple of “the massive threat
that China is targeting the that now emanates from
Netherlands as an innova- countries with cyberattack
tive country that develops Erik Akerboom, director-general of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service, AIVD, programs, such as China,
new technology. painted a grim picture during a press conference in Zoetermeer, Netherlands, Thursday, April 13, Russia and Iran.”
“We see that every day 2023, of a growing number of internal and external threats to the rule of law in the Netherlands Albania cut diplomatic ties
they try to steal that from compounded by Russia’s war in Ukraine and international cyber attacks and espionage. with Iran last year over a
Associated Press
the Netherlands,” he told July 15 cyberattack that
The Associated Press. machines that make ad- national trade. Akerboom ing inflation. That in turn led temporarily shut down nu-
“The Chinese use cyber as vanced processor chips. highlighted overlapping to an uptick in conspiracy merous Albanian govern-
a weapon, cyber as a way The Dutch joined a U.S. threats ranging from ter- theories, among other ment digital services and
to commit espionage, but push that aims to limit Chi- rorism, extremism, cyberat- threats. websites. Tirana called the

they also send people to us na’s access to materials tacks, espionage, covert “As a result, extremist disruption an act of “state
students, but also scientific used to make such chips, influence and sabotage, to boosters in the Netherlands aggression.”
persons of all kind to espe- amid fears they could be organized crime undermin- were once again given the The service also noted that
cially steal knowledge from used in weapons, to com- ing the rule of law. opportunity to spread con- “hatred, anti-Semitism and
very vulnerable places,” he mit rights abuses or to im- The war that erupted when spiracy theories about an conspiracy theories spread
said. prove the speed and ac- Russia invaded Ukraine last ‘evil elite’ after the corona in the Netherlands” and
The Netherlands earlier curacy of military logistics. year exacerbated the situ- crisis. Sometimes countries said it “prevented con-
this year announced plans China has criticized the ation. Sanctions on Russian like Russia use the unrest in crete threats within the
to impose additional re- moves as violations of energy imports led to a gas the West to secretly stir up Netherlands from becom-
strictions on the export of market principles in inter- shortage, feeding into soar- contradictions in society,” ing reality.” q

Antisemitic incidents on rise across

U.S., report finds

JERUSALEM (AP) — Anti- antisemitism. U.S. also hit new levels, the
semitism rose in the U.S. in This year the research- organization said.
2022 and shows little sign of ers said that “2022 did not Antisemitic hate crimes
abating worldwide as po- mark a universal reversal rose in New York, Los An-
litical radicals have gained of the trend, and in some geles and Chicago, home
mainstream popularity, re- countries, most alarmingly to the country’s three larg-
searchers said in a report the United States, it intensi- est Jewish populations, ac-
released Monday. fied.” cording to their police de-
The report was released by Other countries with large partments.
Tel Aviv University’s Center Jewish populations, such The researchers found that
for the Study of Contempo- as France, Canada, Argen- visibly identifiable Jews, A U.S. flag is seen through a hole torn in an Israel national flag,
rary European Jewry and tina and the United King- particularly ultra-Orthodox as they wave in the wind at a horse ranch, near the southern
the U.S.-based Anti-Def- dom, showed a decrease Jews, who are also known Israeli town of Sderot, Friday, Nov. 20, 2020.
amation League as Israel in antisemitic incidents from as haredi Jews, are the pri- Associated Press
began observing its annual the previous year. mary targets of antisemitic The rise in Jew-hatred in the ica is nothing new, since
day of remembrance for The ADL found that the violence in the West. U.S. is not limited to white World War II, “American
the 6 million Jews killed in number of antisemitic inci- “Haredi Jews are the main supremacists. It said that Jews have lived securely in
the Holocaust. dents in the U.S. increased victims not only because “the antisemitism of the far- the knowledge that civil so-
Last year’s report found by more than 35% in the they are easily identifiable right and far-left are push- ciety and its institutions are
that 2021 set a new high for past year, from 2,721 in as Jews, but also because ing into the mainstream of a reliable buffer against
antisemitic incidents, with 2021 to 3,697 in 2022. Anti- they are perceived as vul- American culture and poli- discrimination, prejudice
the coronavirus pandemic semitic and white suprem- nerable and unlikely to tics from both sides.” and violence,” the report’s
fueling a worldwide rise in acist propaganda in the fight back,” the report said. While antisemitism in Amer- authors wrote. q