| Having just returned from a four-day trip to The Netherlands to discuss the ever-growing topic of anti-Semitism, Rabbi AbrahamCooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center is protesting a cartoon published inthe Dutch newspaper, De Volksrant by Jos Collignon which uses Nazi imagery to depict Israel as a threat to world peace. Below is his protest submitted toVolkskrant editor-in-chief:
"Last week I met in the Hague with Deputy Prime Minister Asscher, intelligence officials, and Dutch Parliamentarians at The Hague todiscuss the posting by Sharriah4Dutch of a new fatwa about attacking European Churches and Synagogues and the Simon Wiesenthal Center's alarm over growing anti-Semitism in TheNetherlands. I referred to the respected Ebert Foundation poll that showed over 38% of Dutch respondents said that Israel is exterminating Palestinians the way the Germans exterminatedthe Jews! Shocking? Perhaps not, considering decisions like your paper's to publish a cartoon [see photo] depicting Israel as the lying hooked-nosed religious Chasidic Jew commiseratingwith a North Korean counterpart over their nuclear capabilities. Never mind that it is Mullahs in Tehran who are working hand-in-hand with Pyongyang to threaten regional and worldpeace. Never mind that no Arab leader feels threatened by Israel's nuclear capabilities, only Iran's nuclear ambitions. So it seems that tried and true Nazi Jew-hatred imagery stillworks for at least 38% of your fellow Dutchmen.
Perhaps though as editor-in-chief you might want to apologize for the timing of this particular outrage as it came 24 hours after anIranian citizen burst into a synagogue in Paris where he stabbed a (hooked nosed?) Rabbi and his 18 year-old son screaming, "Allah Akhbar".
For further information please contact Dr. Shimon Samuels on 00(33)609770158, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for newsupdates sent direct to your Twitter page or mobile device. The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families inthe United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament(Parlatino). |