The first Jews to settle in Britain were forbidden by the Church to own land, employ Christians or bear arms. At the same time, Christians were forbidden to lend money for interest therefore money-lending —finance— became an industry for British Jews. https://www.sephardi.org.uk/history/ 

As the founders of banking services (and also the pioneers of international business networking), Jews provided credit in a society where there were no banks as we know them today. That was until 1290, when Jews were kicked out of Britain for three hundred years.

After time in Spain and Portugal, Amsterdam became a popular destination for Jews to openly practice their religion. Through the first half of the 17th century, Amsterdam became the world’s leading trading city and the home of a thriving Jewish community.

Things looked good for the Sephardim (my peeps) until the lunatic “protector” Oliver Cromwell came to power, driven by Puritan religious zeal —as much a religious event as a political one. Enter Cromwell and a rabbi of the Amsterdam Portuguese Jews community—Menasseh ben Israel.

Tolerance is a lovely innate Dutch quality in my experience. Good peeps. And religious tolerance has been the key to the political stability of The Netherlands. At the other end of the spectrum, the Puritans (and their spawn today) are, first and foremost, intolerant. It’s awful.

If you do not think this conflict exists today, I suggest that you dig deep into the MH17 catastrophe. That is all for this thread. Don’t be dissing the Dutch. I’ve got no time for that bullshit.