| CENTRE SIMON-WIESENTHAL – EUROPE Justice Minister claims "openly sympathising with terrorist groups is not punishable by law' The Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, vigorously protested to Dutch Prime Minister,Mark Rutte, the authorisation for another rally in the Hague of the terrorist movement ISIS, calling for "death to the Jews". The Centre had protested such antisemitic threats at the first such demonstration on 4 July see <http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=4441467&ct=14065281#.U9Ja3PmSz5M> Yesterday, the call in Arabic and Dutch was for "dirty Jews from the sewers to be killed”. This rally had little to do with Gazasolidarity. It was unambiguously targeted against Jews, but also according to the Dutch press sought to lynch journalists, who were pulled to safety by the police, otherwise servingas silent spectators". Samuels charged that "This language, in fact by implication, applauds ISIS destruction of the ancient Christian communities in Iraqand Syria, mass-murdered together with thousands of Shi’a Muslims in the territory over-run by ISIS, which they claim as their new Caliphate." The letter pointed to the "The Christen Unie Group which called to ban ISIS demonstrations, but your Foreign Minister, Frans Timmermans, argued for the 'Dutch right to demonstrate',rejecting exceptions when public order is endangered" continuing "moreover, your Justice Minister, Ivo Opstelten has amazingly sent a letter to Parliament claiming that 'openlysympathising with terrorist groups is not punishable by law'". Samuels stressed that "ISIS is a terrorist organisation that split from Al-Qaeda, which it considered too moderate", adding "yet,Hague Mayor, Jozias Van Aartsen - who is also in charge of the city’s police - for the second time authorized the rally, reportedly stating, 'no boundaries have been crossed during thedemonstration'. This suicidal policy could perhaps be best understood in the context of Van Aartsen’s political preferences as seen in his past ties with such figures as Arafat andMilosevic". The letter stressed that "most disturbing, your Public Prosecutor's press release states: Mr. Prime Minister, the Youtube clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o443KJiBTU clearly shows many more than 50 participants and the slogans at the end of the clip were repeated and quite evident, 'Maut al-Yahud' (Death to theJews), 'Khaybar, Khaybar' (The genocide of the Jews of Khaybar) and 'Those who do not jump are Jews' (All the Muslims present jumped). Our Centre expects you to launch an immediate enquiry into the cover-up by this police officer who betrayed his duty to faithfullytranslate all slogans – most of which were menacing Jews". The Centre urged the Netherlands "to follow the example of the United Kingdom in banning ISIS and to forbid any further demonstrationsin Holland that call for the murder of Jews or any other 'riff-raff'". "Otherwise, Mr. Khoulani and his Dutch supporters of Jihadism will have no need to go to Baghdad. Baghdad will have come to theHague. At least in World War II, the Netherlands put up a fight against the Nazis", concluded Samuels. 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 members. It is an NGO at international agencies including the UnitedNations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the OAS and the Latin American Parliament. |