Dutch Reform rabbi who said 'totalitarian' policies remind her of Nazi Germany resigns

(JTA) - A prominent rabbi in the Netherlands compared her country's COVID-19 safety measures to the policies of Nazi Germany, drawing harsh rebuke from Jewish groups.

Tamarah Benima, an outspoken 71-year-old Reform rabbi from Amsterdam, made the comparison on Nov. 4 in a speech in the northern Dutch city of Leeuwarden. She left the Dutch Union for Progressive Judaism on Nov. 9, the rabbinical council of the umbrella group wrote in a statement.

"Scientists worldwide apparently allowed themselves over the past 1 and a half years to be led toward totalitarian thinking," she said of the COVID-19 p...