A report commissioned by the ministry of Education in the Netherlands shows that anti-Semitism is a ''recurrent problem'' in many schools in the country, especially among Muslim sudents.

The report was prepared by Dutch journalist Margalith Kleijwegt at the demand of the government. She visited schools across the country and made interviews with teachers.

It found that many teachers feel ineffectual when seeking to alter the deep-seated prejudices and/or violent outlooks of their students, particularly against Jews.

She gives as example a teacher who wanted to speak about 9/11 when a young student of Moroccan origin stood up and said that it was in fact ‘’a Zionist Jewish plot.’’ He even mentioned that there were no Muslims in the planes.

Another high-school teacher in Amsterdam recounted an incident in which during a conversation on discrimination, a female student of Moroccan descent stood up and pronounced: “If I had a Kalashnikov, I’d gun down all the Jews.”

“I wasn’t getting there,” the teacher is quoted in the report as saying. “I asked her to imagine a 5-year-old Jewish girl who lives here. What would she have to do with Israel’s policies? Unfortunately, there was no place for empathy. The pupil didn’t care about that girl. She had only one message: The Jews should die."

Kleijwegt noted that ‘’Anti-Semitic behavior is a recurrent problem in some schools. Some see it as a provocation by pupils, others fear it goes deeper: That pupils receive anti-Jewish attitudes at home."

Dutch Education Minister Jet Bussemaker, who commissioned the report, said that it "shows a reality that is inconvenient and sometimes painful" but one that must be challenged