Netherlands: Al-Qaeda mouthpiece run by Dutch extremists

Source: Islam in Europe

The Jihadist Ansar Al Mujahideen site is mostly run by Dutch Muslim extremists.

The Dutch behind Al Ansar not only fill the website with English and Dutch hate-texts and propaganda, but also use computer servers in Amsterdam. These Dutch Muslim extremist had close ties with the Hofstad Group in the past.

The terror cell which was recently arrested in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria discussed attacks in the Jewish Quarter in Antwerp, train routes, and crowded locations [Jewish community in Belgium was target of major terror attack, according to magazine], and used the site collect money and recruit fighters for a Chechen Jihad group. The site is registered by Ali Mahmoud, with a Brussels PO Box. New members are only accepted to the site if they're trusted by the other Jihadists.

Ansar Al Mujahideen – one of the most important propaganda mouthpieces of al-Qaeda worldwide - is carefully watched by security services, also in the Netherlands. Sources confirm that the website is not only facilitated by the Dutch, but also financed in the Netherlands. The website publicizes official announcements by al-Qaeda.

Intelligence sources confirm that the English part of the website is run by a dozen Dutch Muslim extremists, including several women. Those Dutch members were formerly the driving force behind the now-defunct Dutch extremist website Thabaat, which was tried to members of the Hofstad Group.
Read the full article HERE

- Former EU Commissioner Frits Bolkestein: "No future for Orthodox Jews" in Holland
- NGO Monitor reveals Dutch gov´t funding for Electronic Intifada

Jewish community in Belgium was target of major terror attack, according to magazine

Typically, the news do not seem to be of any interest to Belgian journalists !

ANTWERP (EJP)---Terrorist suspects arrested two weeks ago in Belgium and Holland planned to target the Jewish community with a major terror attack, a Jewish magazine said, quoting information obtained by a Dutch newspaper from judicial sources.

According to "Joods Actueel" in Antwerp, Dutch daily newspaper "Het Parool" received the information from a anonymous source "close to the investigation".  Belgian authorities didn't confirm nor deny the news reports.

Quoting a senior European counter-terror expert, CNN already mentioned two weeks ago that members of the terror group arrested in Antwerp and their associates in Germany and the Netherlands had discussed targeting Jews in Belgium as well as NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The suspects were using a jihadist website to plan an attack on an unspecified target, police said at the time.

Antwerp is home of around 18,000 Jews while 15,000 live in Brussels.

To see CNN report (23/11/2010) go HERE

Flemish quiz show: Jews are "most disgusting nation on Earth"

The video can be viewed here (with English sub-titles).  The scariest thing is that all on the show are laughing their heads off.  It seems that Mr Peumans apologised to the Turks, but not to Belgian Jews...  The Turks reacted immediately and nobody is going to say that they are "sensitive".  Sadly, one is still waiting for a reaction from the Belgian Jewish community.

Source: South Capitol Street and Today's Zaman (Leading Flemish lawmaker expresses regret over anti-Turkish remarks)

President of the Flemish parliament in Belgium Jan Peter Peumans has said he did not mean to offend Turks with remarks he made during a live quiz show on a local TV channel, the Turkish Embassy in Brussels said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Peumans said he is sorry because the situation has caused consequences beyond his intention,” read the embassy’s statement.

When asked which nation was the most disgusting on the face of earth in famous French philosopher Voltaire’s opinion during the “De Pappenheimers” quiz show on the VRT channel on Sunday, Peumans — who is also a member of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) — said that among the choices presented to him — “Flemish, Jews or Turks” — he knew the answer was Jews, but because he “did not have the courage to say anything against them” he would say Turks instead. “I really knew it [correctly] but I do not have any courage to say something new about Jews. They are very sensitive people. I once said something about their liberalism and it really caused me a lot of trouble,” Peumans had said. Following his words, film director Jan Eelen, another contestant, told Peumans that “it appears saying something against Turks is not a problem, then.”While it is true the the question was quoting the anti-semite Voltaire, not saying that it is a fact that the Jewish people are disgusting, it is still an inflammatory question for a popular broadcast quiz show.

The European Union wishes good luck to the Israel-bashing Russell tribunal

Belgian newspaper Le Soir reports that the European Commission - accused by the Russell kangaroo court of complicity with Israel - declined the invitation to stand before the kangaroo jury, but sent a letter wishing "good luck" to the work of the London "conference". 

Among the outstanding members of the court, Le Soir lists Stéphane Hessel, Mairead Maguire and John Dugard - three well-known Israel-bashers.

The boss of the court, Belgian Pierre Galand, is happy with the "growing notoriety of the tribunal gained thanks to its seriousness".  Well neither the BBC nor the British newspapers covered the session. So much for the notoriety.

Pierre Galand announced that the next two sessions to be held in South Africa in October 2011 and the United States in 2012 will examine whether the "apartheid" accusation is reflects what is going on in the occupied territories and the role of the Unites States and in the United States in this "dossier".

- Israel lynching tribunal coming to the United States in 2011 (Russell Tribunal on Palestine, Belgium)
- The judgment of the "embarrassing sham kangaroo spectacle"

Durban III: Anne Bayefsky criticizes Belgium lead role on behalf of the 27 European Union countries

“Is Germany going to stand side-by-side with a Holocaust denier [Ahmadinejad] having genocidal ambitions and claim this is the right forum by which to combat racism and xenophobia?”

"Responding to Bart Ouvry’s [a spokesman for Belgium’s Foreign Ministry] statements, Bayefsky told the Post that some EU states had opted not to participate in Durban II before Ahmadinejad speech.  Those states, Bayefsky said, “did not leave only as a consequence of Ahmadinejad. They pulled out in advance because they recognized that the Durban Declaration and its followup processes harm the cause of combating racism...” [...] Bayefsky said Belgium was pushing the Durban Declaration against Israel and the commemoration event. If Belgium sought to fight racism, “there would be no need to make any mention of the Durban Declaration. They could adopt a statement against racism and refer to the convention on the elimination of all forms racial discrimination,” she said."

US doesn't support UN plan to hold Durban III next year
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL AND JORDANA HORN, TJP

10th anniversary event mooted for Sept. in NY at UN headquarters; ADL, pro-Israel NGOs appalled by idea of celebrating ‘notorious’ 2001 meeting.

A commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Durban I antiracism event is slated to take place in September 2011 at UN headquarters in New York, a source familiar with the plans told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

But Patrick Ventrell, a spokesman for the US Mission to the UN, told the Post on Thursday, “The US does not support the decision to hold the 10th anniversary of the Durban I Conference in New York City in September 2011. We do not believe it would be an appropriate time and venue.”

According to the UN insider, “Negotiators Tuesday spent time arguing about the date. Western states tried to object to September 21 on the basis that there were plans for other events already that day and GA [General Assembly] resolutions are never specific about dates so the issue should be left to future negotiations.”

Next year’s conference is intended to honor the initial Durban I event in South Africa and the follow-up Durban II review conference in Geneva last year. [The US, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland walked away from Durban II because the event was tainted by anti-Semitism and disparate treatment toward Israel.]

Officially known as the World Conference against Racism 2001, Durban I was marred by anti-Semitism and attacks on Israel’s right to exist. Last year’s Durban II showcased Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s tirades against Israel as well as his denial of the Holocaust.

According to Natalie Kohli, senior adviser for the UN’s Human Rights Council Review, opposition to the commemoration is expected from the US, Israel, Canada, Australia and others.

Belgium is taking a lead role in negotiating on behalf of the 27 European Union countries regarding Durban III.

The Post learned that South Africa is pushing for a September 21, 2011, date, when most heads of state would be in New York for the annual session of the US General Assembly.

When asked whether Germany planned to participate in the Durban commemoration event, a German Foreign Ministry spokesman told the Post via e-mail on Tuesday, “The discussions on the annual UN anti-racism resolution and the questions raised in this connection regarding a commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Durban conference are currently still taking place in New York. Therefore, the outcome of the discussions cannot be anticipated at this time.”

The spokesman added, “The federal government is working actively within the UN against the misuse of the justified issue of the international fight against racism. This is also its position during the current negotiations.”

After considerable public pressure and media editorials urging Germany to boycott Durban II in 2009, then-foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier pulled the plug on Germany’s involvement in the Geneva Durban II event at the eleventh hour.

Anne Bayefsky, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and an expert on international human rights law, told the Post on Wednesday that the German Foreign Ministry’s statement was “shockingly misleading.”

“Last year, Germany voted against the resolution which decided specifically to hold a ‘Durban III,’ which nevertheless passed handily,” Bayefsky said. “Last year’s resolution also decided the event would be held in September 2011 in New York City, and would be scheduled during the opening days of the General Assembly so that heads of state and of government could be pressured into coming.

“The bottom line is, Germany has followed the decision to hold Durban III and the process of fleshing out the event details closely,” she said. “It is fully aware of precisely what can be anticipated from the current negotiations, since it knows full well that those meetings are fiddling at the edges and have no bearing whatsoever on the decision to have the event, which has already been made. Germany voted with their feet at Durban II, and voted against the resolution on Durban III last year.

“So why is Germany feigning ignorance days before they have to cast a vote on the details of the same meeting to which they objected the year before? Germany knows that Iranian President Ahmadinejad opened Durban II and that he will certainly come to Durban III along with his usual participation at the opening of the General Assembly.

Jimmy Carter reiterates apartheid accusations against Israel ... and much more

"I'm not saying that Israel is not a democracy, but it is not a democracy like ours." (Subtle distinction)

"Gaza is like a cage in which 1.5 million Palestinians live, 75% of which are refugees."

"If you look up an English dictionary, apartheid means the domination of one people by another and the formal separation of these two peoples [!]. This is what is already happening in the West Bank. Israel is clearly the dominant power and requires by law the total separation between Jewish settlers and Palestinians. That's why I use the word apartheid."

"When I meet with Hamas leaders, they clearly state that they will accept any peace treaty negotiated between Abbas and Israel that is approved by referendum by the Palestinian people."

Jimmy Carter was in Switzerland where he gave an interview to two newspapers Le Temps (Switzerland) and Le Soir (Belgium).  He reiterated his vicious accusations against Israel - Israel has apartheid policies and is not a democracy - while whitewashing Hamas.  His allegations are in stark contrast with the apologies he offered to the U.S. Jewish community in 2009 : Carter offers Jewish community ‘Al Het’, Jimmy Carter to U.S. Jews: Forgive me for stigmatizing Israel and Carter: Grandson’s race not reason enough to apologize ... 

Unauthorized translation of excerpts of Jimmy Carter's interview:

Jimmy Carter's "strong views on the Israeli occupation have earned him much sympathy in the Arab world and the contempt of the Israeli governement. Jimmy Carter is back from a trip to Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Syria and Jordan. The 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner delivers his analysis.

How was your last trip?
The Palestinians' situation is as follows: in Israel, they are subject to 35 laws which discriminate specifically non-Jewish citizens, who were denied the right to own land, to marriage, to travel, to have access to medical care and the media. In East Jerusalem - occupied by Israel - the Palestinians are not treated as citizens. The Silwan community, where there are 55,000 Arabs, has no playground and there is no school building. Jerusalem Mayor apologized while explaining that he was planning a tourist and archaeological site there. The Arabs who have lived there for sixty-five years will be forced to leave. In the West Bank, more than 300,000 Israeli settlers have confiscated land and properties off the Palestinians to build their own houses. Finally and even worse, Gaza is like a cage in which 1.5 million Palestinians live, 75% of which are refugees.

Israel lynching tribunal coming to the United States in 2011 (Russell Tribunal on Palestine, Belgium)

Created in Brussels, the capital of Europe, by Pierre Galand (NGO Special Report (2004): "Pierre Galand (Belgium) Using Political NGOs to Promote Demonization & Anti-Semitism in the UN & EU"), the "kangoroo court" was launched in Belgium (where it was created and launched in Belgium and held its first session in Barcelona, will be in London in November, in South Africa mid 2011 and in the United States end 2011.  Yet another European (Belgian to be precise) contribution to Peace.

Source: Harry's Place (Amnesty, Law Society Hosts Russell Tribunal on Palestine, Alan A, October 30th 2010)

On Monday 8 November, the Amnesty Human Rights Action Centre will host a meeting on the Russell Tribunal on Palestine. That meeting will feature Ewa Jasiewicz who is billed as a “Member of UK Committee”

Ewa Jasiewicz was the spokeswoman who justified the desecration of the Warsaw Ghetto earlier this year:

The Tribunal will then hold its full session at the Law Society on 20-22 November. It will feature such luminaries as John Dugard, Ronald Kasrils, Mike Mansfield, and the conspiracy theorist and kook, Cynthia McKinney.
"I had a mother to call me because her son had a very gruesome task. Her son’s charge by the Department of Defense was to process 5,000 bodies that had received a single bullet wound to the head. And these were mostly males and her son was afraid to talk because he had signed a silence agreement. So he only complained to his mother. But the data about these individuals was entered into a Pentagon computer and then, reportedly, the bodies were dumped in the swamp in Louisiana. This is as a result of the tragedy of hurricane Katrina. Now I have verification from insiders who wish to remain anonymous at the Red Cross that this is true."
________
Jonathan Hoffman : Please protest (especially if you are a lawyer) to the Law Society about them letting their rooms for this Kangaroo Court:
http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/contactus.law#contactform

- Irish Nobel laureate to 'examine' Israel war crimes in London soon
Raising funds in Belgium for the London session:
- Anti-Israel "Russell tribunal" coming to London from ... Belgium
- Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation Betrays Bertrand Russell

Cartoon above: Israel embassy in Spain

Belgian boycott Israel "success story"

Perseverance pays.  After two years of unrelenting efforts 78 NGOs (repeat 78 NGOs after a two-year campaign - since November 2008) have scored a major success against Israel. 

Belgian newspaper Le Soir - a great promoter of Israel boycotts and punishments - reports that 15 account holders with the Belgian-French Dexia Bank had closed down their accounts in protest at Dexia's operations in the West Bank "colonies" ("settlements" in French with a nasty connotation). 

Fifteen customers is a remarkable number considering that Dexia, being a major European bank, probably has hundreds of thousands or even millions of customers.  But as the Quebec-Israel Committee rightly points out : "Since its launch in Quebec, the BDS campaign has achieved nothing but dismal failures ; failures which it amazingly claims as successes, thanks to an absurd rhetoric that only seem to fool its own followers". Hopefully Le Soir readers will not be fooled either !

The anti-Israel militants are anti-US too.

For more details see: Presse belge: les Belges "réussissent" une opération de boycott contre Israël

Brussels: Jihad by vuvuzela !

Being "affiliated to an organization like CCLJ which is critical but close to Israel [!]" doesn't shield you from the rage of certain anti-Israel Muslims - as Professor Joël Kotek experienced last week!

Source: Brussels Journal (Jihad By Vuvuzela, by Luc Van Braekel)

Muslim youth have discovered a new weapon to counter the dissemination of unwanted ideas: the vuvuzela. Pro-Palestinian activists used the African noise horn to try to silence a Jewish professor in Brussels.

It happened last Thursday in Molenbeek, a predominantly Muslim borough of the Brussels capital region. Mouedden Mohsin, a Belgian-Moroccan publicist and radio presenter, had organized a series of intercultural sessions to improve the understanding between the Jewish and muslim communities in Brussels. Speaker of the evening, for an audience of immigrant youngsters, was professor Joël Kotek, an expert in anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. [What makes it even more alarming and odd is that Mr. Kotek is a staunch critic of Israel.]

As a precaution, the blinds of the community center where the session was to be held were lowered. Still, a handful of youth tried to silence the speech of professor Kotek with a vuvuzela and a siren, while knocking on the blinds and screaming slogans like "Jihad, Hamas, Hezbollah" and "Kotek murderer". Leading the group of activists was Nordine Saidi, an outspoken fan of French anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonné M'Bala M'Bala. In last year's regional elections, Saïdi was head of the list "Egalité", promoting a city partnership of Brussels with Gaza. [Belgian journalist Baudouin Loos describes him admiringly as "an educator and a militant for the self-determination of the peoples".  No less!]

So proud were the demonstrators of their actions, that they posted a video report on Youtube [boycote joel kotek definitely worth watching] :

Zionists' Hobbies - Lies - Torture - Stealing - KILLING !

Belgian academic explains threat of U.S. Jewish lobby to American "dummies" ...

"It is enough to open any mainstream U.S. newspaper or TV and read or hear opinions expressed by Zionists calling for more war. What is at stake in the de-Zionization of the American mind is not only the fate of the unfortunate inhabitants of Palestine but also unspeakable miseries for the people of that region and maybe of the rest of the world. The ultimate irony in all this is that the fate of much of the world depends of the American people exercizing their right to self-determination, which, of course, they should."

Belgian EU Commissioner Karel De Gucht's remarks on how the Jewish lobby controls America reflects a widely held view in Europe, and that's why neither he nor the EU Commission offered an apology or a rectification.  A Belgian newspaper confirmed that what Commissioner De Gucht said about the Lobby and the irrationality of Jews is exactly in line with what most knowlegeable Europeans believe. 

At the Catholic University of Louvain, in Belgium, Professor Jean Bricmont, like, we are told, most Belgians totally believes in the Jewish lobby and is absolutely terrified and obsessed by it.  He believes that American are not smart enough - even the American left is much too dumb and intimidated - to understands its dangers.  He wrote an essay for Counterpunch (see Counterpunch: A Neo Nazi Magazine) in 2006.  In it he advocates the "de-Zionisation" (doesn't this remind you of "de-Nazification?) of the American mind.  No less. Well, so far the American "idiots" have superbly ignored the ravings of an unsufferably arrogant man for whom Americans are Zionized brainwashed fools who have relinquished their self-determination to the benefit of the Lobby.

Bricmont wants Israeli’s feeling of superiority shattered and believes that “Americans have a great responsibility is doing half of the job, the one concerning kneejerk U.S. support.” One can only guess who should be doing the other half of the job. Another ominous remark: “And that is also why it is easy to dismiss its strength by saying, for instance, that, obviously, Jews don't control America. Sure, but direct control is not the way it works”. There we go!  The Israel Lobby by Walt and Mearsheimer pales in comparison with the violent and contemptuous anti-American (not to mention Jews and Israelis) tone of Bricmont’s paper. His great achievement is that every single sentence smacks of smugness, self-importance and contempt - the give-away words “hate” and “hatred” crop up ten times ...

The Professor also pairs up with Martial Demunter to give sparsely attended “cycles of conferences” in Brussels on “The USA, Zionism and Israel” while Demunter holds forth on “Guilt and Holocaust Manipulation”! A nice pair.

Here are some excerpts from How to Deal with The Lobby, The De-Zionization of the American Mind

“… the level of hatred that leads a large number of people to applaud an event like September 11 is peculiar to the Middle East. Indeed, the main political significance of September 11 did not derive from the number of people killed or even the spectacular achievement of the attackers, but from the fact that the attack was popular in large parts of the Middle East. That much was understood by Americans leaders and infuriated them. Such a level of hatred calls for explanation.

François Houtart, Hamas supporter Belgian priest, the next Nobel Peace Prize laureate ?

The ever resourceful Belgians have had yet a new fabulous idea.  They will put foward the name of a Roman Catholic priest François Houtart, 85, for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.  He is of course anti-Israel and a firm believer in creating kangoroo courts to delegitimise Israel ... and legitimise Hamas.

As we wrote previously (François Houtart, a Belgian anti-Zionist priest, awarded UNESCO prize for tolerance and non-violence) (2009):

François Houtart, a Belgian priest and professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, has been awarded (shared) the 2009 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence. The announcement reads (excerpt):

"François Houtart (Belgium) for his life-long commitment to world peace, intercultural dialogue, human rights and the promotion of tolerance, and in recognition of his outstanding efforts to advance the cause of social justice in the world. [...]"

What the announcement leaves out is that François Houtart is a staunch anti-Israeli/US militant :

* he signed an appeal launched by Nadine Rosa-Rosso to all candidates for the 736 seats in the European parliament to remove Hamas from the EU terror list (International List Of Hamas Supporters Published, Harry's Place);

* he is a member of the Russell Tribunal for Palestine, concocted by another Belgian, Pierre Galand (Brussels: Launching of the "Russell Tribunal" on Palestine) the third such mock tribunal cooked up in Belgium ...;

* he is the chairman of the BRussells Tribunal - Peple vs Total War, that is co-chaired by Jean Bricmont, professor at the Catholic University of Louvain. Pierre Klein, professor at the Free University of Brussels is the secretary; and

* he is a member of the "People's Court" in which "individuals of concience" tried Israel for "crimes committed by the Israeli army in Lebanon during the summer 2006 [which] are a violent affront to the universal human conscience"(Israel on trial in Brussels: Iranian and Syrian Ambassadors give standing ovation to judges and Lebanon war mock tribunal condemns Israel and U.S.).

Teacher of EU and NATO staff children denounces Jewish power in the USA

"The Jewish community is very powerful in the United States and every president, whether Democrat or Republican, has to consider this factor when making decisions, because the influence of this community can be critical, and not just in electoral terms ... "

 An ambitious Belgian Catholic teacher at the European School (Schola Europea), Pierre Piccinin [the photo is eloquent enough], is the author of a number of anti-"Zionist" articles of a remarkable brutality (in French-speaking Belgium this passes for political analysis) and also in defense French humorist Dieudonné in the Belgian press and even in Le Monde. He always proudly indicates that he is professor of history and political science at the European School Brussels 1 and tutor at the Free University of Brussels.

His young charges can become familiar with his hateful ideas - if not in the classroom - in the newspapers and on his blog. Who are his young pupils at the European school? The children of the staff of the European Institutions and NATO, and some fee-paying children. Who funds the school ? Member States and the European Commission. In other words, the European taxpayer. And by the way, The aims of the schools were expressed in the words of Jean Monnet in 1953: "Educated side by side, untroubled from infancy by divisive prejudices, acquainted with all that is great and good in the different cultures, it will be borne in upon them as they mature that they belong together. Without ceasing to look to their own lands with love and pride, they will become in mind Europeans, schooled and ready to complete and consolidate the work of their fathers before them, to bring into being a united and thriving Europe."

A sample of some of Piccinin's articles published in various newspapers and on his blog (translated):
- Why should the Palestinian people be asked to die in silence?
- The feedom flotilla : was the Israelly government' intention to kill ? 
- Gaza : a planned project ? (Last para: "Thus, for the Palestinians, Obama's big change will not materialise. The new presidential administration will simply continue the policy of the previous one. Once again it paralyzed the United Nations and prevented any action to stop the assault on Gaza, using its veto in the Security Council. Unconditional support for the Israeli State that kills children? [note the ambigous phrasing and the question mark] "Yes, he can!" ..."
- The peace process : a misunderstanding 
- Belgium, complicit in war crimes ? (the text co-authored by Piccinin is so outrageous that the Belgium media refused to publish it)
- Kadhafi, not the fool he is made out to be ...
- Israel, a rogue state at large. The article gave rise to the views :

Violent "anti-Zionist" scene live on Belgian TV (RTL)

This happened on Friday evening during the evening news at the Belgian private TV channel RTL.  The appalling scene took place in Brussels in front of the Royal Palace of Laeken during a meeting between the Belgian king Albert II and Mr Bart De Wever.  A young man of North African appearance pushed aside journalist Frédéric Delfosse and shouted with raised fist "Zionist" (no doubt meaning the channel to be "Zionist"-controlled - for the record, RTL, like RTBF, the public francophone Belgian TV, is anti-Israel, but not enough for some).  The young man also seems to have shouted "annihilate Zionism ..." (?)  and "infamy" (?).  The scene was cut straight away.  See the 27-second video HERE. (H/T JPD)

Thirty per cent of the population in Brussels is Muslim.

Cross-posted on Philosémitisme (TV belge: violent "incident" antisioniste en direct ... devant le palais royal)

Mosque shooting game banned in Austria, not Jewish soldier shooting game in Belgium

Anti-mosque web game banned: Austria (and quite rightly so)

"Austrian authorities have banned a far-right online game where players eliminate animated mosques and Muslims, the political party behind the game said on Friday.  The "Bye Bye Mosque" game, which has had over 200,000 visitors since it was launched on Monday, has drawn sharp criticism from Austria's Social Democrats and Green Party, as well as the Islamic and Roman Catholic communities.

Set up by the provincial branch of the far-right Freedom Party ahead of an election in Styria later this month, the game encouraged players to collect points by putting a target over mosques and minarets emerging from the countryside and clicking a "Stop" sign.  They also had the chance to eliminate a bearded muezzin calling Muslims to prayer. [...]"
______________
In Belgium, children are exhorted to shoot at Israelly soldiers and throw them to the sea.  And the big difference with the Austrian game is that it is not an online game.  The game was staged at a Roman Catholic school ('Throw Israel soldiers to the sea' educational game at Belgian Catholic school), at the Ghent Fair [Belgian NGO incites children to shoot at Israeli soldiers at the Ghent Fair], and now at Charleroi (though adults were not asked to shoot at the soldiers, the exercise seems to be only aimed at children and their parents) :

8 October: a laughing Griet Deknooper, a teacher and the inventor of the "shoot a Jewish/Israelly soldier game", with her fund-raising aquarium at a Charleroi anti-Israel event.

'Throw Israel soldiers to the sea' educational game at Belgian Catholic school

Hardly does a week go by in Belgium without a few NGOs - which receive generous funds from the government - organizing anti-Israel events.

In Flanders alone, during the last weekend of September, several such events took place.  The city of Antwerp [!] - repeat the city of Antwerp [!] - supported, for the second year running, a "Day for Palestine". No wonder that the Antwerp Jewish community is moving out. At Bredene, NGO Belgium to Gaza held an information and sales booth at a fair.  On the 30th, there was a debate in the Herent parish hall on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

But what happened at the Heilig Hart en College (Sacred Heart College) in Halle is so sick that it beggars belief. It is worrying that a reputable Catholic school sees nothing wrong that Catholic adults exhort kids to symbolically but very physically shoot at Israelly/Jewish soldiers and throw them into the sea.  In fact, killing them.

The city, run by a right wing coalition (CD&V, N-VA et VLD), had granted permission for the event "Gaza Terminal" to be held in front of the Halle train station to ensure maximum public exposure.

In the event, because of bad weather conditions, it was transferred to the school gym hall.  The organiser was Griet Deknopper,  a Belgian woman who took part in the flotilla supposed to break the Gaza siege.  She used to be involved in Chiro, the Flemish catholic scouts, and is the niece of a CD&V alderman.   The usual anti-Israel crowd always resorts to the same propaganda methods (flea markets, BBQs, music, anti-Israël propaganda: boycott calls, accusations against Dexia bank, leaflets by the far left-islam party Egalité whose incitement is well documented).

"Throw the soldiers [Israelly Jews] to the sea with your coins!"

Anti-Israel "Russell tribunal" coming to London from ... Belgium

A top Belgian personality, Pierre Galand, President of the Belgian secular movement, advisor to the Rector of the Free University of Brussels, anti-Israel militant and the initiator of the Tribunal Russell on Palestine will be chairing a fund-raising event at the Molière Theatre in Brussels to bring the "Tribunal" to London. (Special NGO Report: "Pierre Galand (Belgium) Using Political NGOs to Promote Demonization & Anti-Semitism in the UN & EU")

Professor Eric David, also of the  Free University of Brussels, will be there too.  Eric David is the spiritual father of the calamitous and now defunct Belgian Universal Jurisdiction Law, a.k.a. "a law against justice"... and a top Israel-basher.  (Last week: Jewish students denounce Free Brussels University biased debate on Dieudonné)

From the "Tribunal" blog: "Russell Tribunal on Palestine-What's next?

Less than a week after the Barcelona session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, we now have to use the little energy we have left to start thinking about the future.  And the future is London.

The Barcelona session focused on EU obligations and failings. The London session will focus on corporations profiting from the occupation but also on labour rights in Palestine-Israel and the role third party States play in letting those violations take place.

We do not have a definitive date yet for this session but it should hopefully happen towards the end of 2010. [In fact 20, 21 and 22 November.]

The Barcelona session, thanks to the efforts of everyone was a huge success. Those 3 days were fantastic, media interest in Spain at least was very impressive, the feedback I receive everyday from participants is incredibly encouraging and the findings/conclusions of the jury are groundbreaking. (to read conclusions, click here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/27775868/Russell-Tribunal-on-Palestine-findings)

Our goal is for the London session to be even better.  For this, we need the support of everyone. The first step is going to be to raise around £60K [approx. 94,290.2 USD]. You can help by donating online here http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.net/pages/Support_the_Russell_Tribunal_on_Palestine-1152211.html
do also contact me [?] if you know any organisations, foundations, charities, unions, wealthy individuals...that you think might be able to contribute.  Again, our hope is that we will raise those £60K at a "grassroot" level. This is our tribunal. The tribunal of the people.

I'll very much appreciate if you could put me in touch with people, organisations, foundations, charities that you think might be able to help and support our work.  Thanks a million for your help and support."

[1] On the Belgian Universal Jurisdiction Law, see : The Suit Against Sharon in Belgium: A Case Analysis, Manfred Gerstenfeld's interview of Irit Kohn (JCPA)
and
NGO Monitor's report by Anne Herzberg: NGO "LAWFARE" - Exploitation of Courts in the Arab-Israeli Conflict Resort to National Courts: Criminal Prosecutions Belgium: Ariel Sharon and the Limits of Universal Jurisdiction, p.p. 23-27

Jewish students denounce Free Brussels University biased debate on Dieudonné

"The biggest swindlers of the planet are the Jews. [...] It is necessary to be Jewish to have freedom of expression in France. Death will be more comfortable than surrender to these dogs."

What is so amazing is that the Free University of Brussels believes that Dieudonné - who is not even Belgian - deserves a debate on freedom of expression.  And that the debate is of such importance to the University that a Vice-Rector, Marc Van Damme, acted as a "moderator" ...  The whole episode is even more preposterous because the organisers were expecting that the "debate" would pull crowds of students, but eventually very few people turned up ... How sad and how ridiculous.

BRUSSELS (EJP)---Jewish students organizations this week denounced the decision by a university in Brussels to give a platform of expression to Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, a French controversial comic who has been condemned on several occasions for anti-Semitism.

The Union of Jewish students in Belgium (UEJB) and the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) reacted to the organization this week at the Free Brussels University [the "free" means that it is non-confessional, i.e. not Catholic] of a debate on freedom of expression during which a film titled "Is it allowed to discuss with Dieudonne?" was shown to the public.

In this one hour and a half film, made by a journalist and sympathizer, Dieudonné declares that "the biggest swindlers of the planet are the Jews". He continues: "It is necessary to be Jewish to have freedom of expression in France. Death will be more comfortable than surrender to these dogs".  The film also shows Dieudonné’s friendly relations with the leader of the French extreme-right in France, Jean-Marie Le Pen, and with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinedjad.

In a statement, UEJB and EUJS slammed the "partiality" of the moderator, the university’s vice-rector Marc Van Damme, as well as the little place left for the lone contradictor, Joël Kotek, a professor of history at the ULB, who denounced Dieudonné’s racist hatred. The Jewish students said they were shocked by the "tense atmosphere of intimidation with regard to the Jews and the State of Israel which characterized the interventions of a large part of the public". 

Flemish leader sparks row over Belgium's Nazi past

"It is better to shed light on a society's past without hiding reality," De Wever wrote in a column in De Standaard daily entitled "Flemish Nazis." He accused Walloons of "judging by virtue of a moral superiority that is out of place and based on collective ignorance."

BRUSSELS (AFP)---The leader of the Flemish nationalist party opened a wartime wound in an already divided Belgium on Wednesday, accusing French-speaking Belgians of historical amnesia over collaboration with Nazis.

Smack in the middle of tense coalition talks with French-speaking parties, Bart De Wever sparked a row by charging in a Flemish newspaper column that research on francophone collaboration during World War II was "particularly brief."

Contrary to French-speaking Wallonia, he wrote, Flanders had owned up to its collaborationist past, making it impossible for the Flemish region to "sweep under the rug the 'New Order' temptation as if it had just been a fling."

The head of the N-VA party even used one of Belgium's cultural legacies, comic books, to drive home his point by drawing a parallel between the wartime activities of two iconic artists, one francophone, the other Flemish. Little attention has been paid to the fascist leanings of "Tintin" creator Hergé, he argued, while the family of Flemish comic book writer Willy Vandersteen admitted last week that he made anti-Semitic drawings in 1942.

"It is better to shed light on a society's past without hiding reality," De Wever wrote in a column in De Standaard daily entitled "Flemish Nazis." He accused Walloons of "judging by virtue of a moral superiority that is out of place and based on collective ignorance." [...]

Chomsky ventures into the quagmire of Holocaust deniers - again

Source: Rue 98 (Chomsky se risque encore dans le bourbier des négationnistes by Pascal Riché)

A petition to free Vincent Reynouard, a French negationist,  who is serving a prison sentence and to abrogate the Gayssot Act was initiated by two foremost "experts" on the famous Jewish/Zionist Lobby: Paul-Eric Blanrue and Jean Bricmont (Jean Bricmont is Belgian, he is a professor at the Catholic University of Louvain).  The petition has so far been signed by 1,000 people - not a great success.  The initiators are proud that it has Noam Chomsky's backing.  This is the letter he wrote :

"I understand that Vincent Reynouard has been condemned and jailed under the Gayssot law, and that a petition is being circulated in protest against these actions. I know nothing about Mr. Reynouard, but regard the Gayssot law as entirely illegitimate, inconsistent with the basic principles of a free society as these have been understood since the Enlightenment.

The law in effect grants the state the right to determine historical truth and to punish departure from its edicts, a principle reminiscent of the dark days of Stalinism and Nazism. If the justification of the Gayssot law is to ban "horrendous views", or to protect the right to "live free from fear of an atmosphere" of prejudice and racism, then it should be obvious that, if such laws were applied impartially, they would criminalize a vast range of public discourse, which, however despicable one may find it, should certainly be permitted in a free society, and indeed is, with no question being raised.

Accordingly, I would like to register my support for the petition protesting the application of this law in this (or any) case.
September, 5th 2010."

Pascal Riché notes: "This time Noam Chomsky is much more prudent than in his defense of Robert Faurisson in 1980. When the professor of literature at the University of Lyon was prosecuted for denying the existence of gas chambers, Chomsky signed a petition defending the right of expression of the French academic, author of "historical research thorough an independent investigation into the issue of the Holocaust"."

Read the whole piece in French HERE.

Belgian NGO incites children to shoot at Israeli soldiers at the Ghent Fair

At the famous and very popular Ghent Festivities, which took place in July, a Flemish NGO had an anti-Israel stand where the big attraction was aimed at children. Young children were invited to shoot at figurines representing Israeli soldiers placed on boats floating in a small aquarium. The weapon for shooting/killing Israelis was a coin and the money thus raised will serve to fund a new hate flotilla. This incitement campaign aimed at children in view of tens of thousands of people didn't seem to meet with the disapproval of the fair organisers, the city authorities, the police or the public.  One can imagine what would have happened if kids had been asked to aim at Muslim soldiers ! We understand that the same NGOs is now looking for a larger fish tank to be exhibited at a fair to be held shortly at another Flemish city ... It has became a tradition to demonize Israel at  Ghent festivals.

Unsurprisingly, no NGO was there to draw attention to the plight of the Roma in Europe ...  In July the great and the good were not yet interested in their fate.