An Amsterdam canal guide ordered an Israeli mother and son to disembark mid-tour after hearing they were from Israel—and refused to return them to the starting dock.

Rozit Gad from Tel Mond told Yisrael Hayom, “I went to Paris to purchase items for my boutique’s holiday and mid-season collection. We stopped for a day and a half in Amsterdam. We avoided speaking Hebrew—we carry both Israeli and Polish passports. We boarded a boat tour. It was supposed to be a group tour, but since no one else signed up, it was just my son and me. The guy (who was steering the boat) was actually friendly, laughed with us, and said he’d explain what we were seeing along the way and tell us about the Netherlands.”

The guide asked, ‘Where are you from?’ and we thought he already knew. The moment we said ‘Israel,’ something changed in his behavior. He started texting nonstop, unfocused on the tour, barely talking, barely explaining.”

“He started talking to us about the Holocaust. That the Jews went through a Holocaust, and how dare we do this to another nation. And he starts to get agitated and says, ‘I can’t continue the tour; I can’t be in your presence. I want you to get off the boat.’ We asked him to at least take us back to where we got on. ‘No, I don’t want to,’ he said.”

“I tried to change the subject; I was afraid he would push us into the water or crash into the walls of the canals. I was scared because before that I told him which hotel we were in. We were really frightened, and we stayed quiet.”

“We got off, we went to the company, told them everything that happened, and they apologized and returned the money. We sent an email to the company. A very unpleasant experience.”

In response to an inquiry, the company told Yisrael Hayom that the boat operator has been fired.

Those Dam Boat Guys stated, “We were very sorry to hear about the incident and immediately removed the operator in question from our schedule. We also apologized to the customers and refunded their money. The operator sees his actions as a protest against the Israeli government, as a kind of political boycott. The customers and we see it as discrimination. Whether it’s a misguided attempt at a political statement or not, Those Dam Boat Guys are based on the value of tolerance of Dutch culture, and we have no interest in employing subcontractors who refuse to serve customers for any reason.”

“Article 1 of the Dutch Constitution makes it clear that discrimination on the basis of religion, race, nationality or any other grounds is not permitted, and we fully uphold this principle on our boats. The operator’s behavior constituted a violation of this principle, and no one who intends to ignore this principle may sail under our flag.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)