Irish Nobel laureate to 'examine' Israel war crimes in London soon

More European anti-Israel initiatives.

- Irish Nobel laureate and boat activist denied Israel entry

More to come.  Mairead Maguire is one of the "personalities" who has confirmed her participation as jury member to "examine" international corporate complicity in Israel’s violations of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and war crimes. (See: Anti-Israel "Russell tribunal" coming to London from ... Belgium)

"The second international session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine will take place in London, on 20, 21 and 22 November 2010. It will examine International corporate complicity in Israel’s Violations of International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, and War Crimes.

After establishing the responsibilities and obligations of corporations under international law, this session will assess the conduct of a series of companies regarding different aspects of Israel’s violations of the rights of the Palestinian People. The Tribunal will also seek to uncover the system that allows corporations to act in such unlawful ways, and to show in what ways States and international organisations could be held accountable for this.

During this session, the jury will be examining cases on:
■Corporations providing tangible services and infrastructure that support illegal Israeli settlements and the occupation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
■Foreign banks and other financial institutions providing financial services to illegal settlements and Israeli banks etc. trading abroad who provide financial services to illegal settlements.
■Foreign companies that manufacture products inside the settlements and industrial zones in the West Bank and Israeli companies that export agricultural and other products from the settlements and industrial zones in the West Bank,
■Foreign companies involved in the export of arms and the infrastructure of war, occupation, colonisation and repression in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israeli companies that export arms and repressive hardware/knowledge abroad

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

Rotterdam: top official has links to anti-Israel and anti-US radical Turkish organization

A top official in Rotterdam, Bilal Taner, is in contact with a Turkish radical-Islamist organization, which is fiercely anti-Israeli and anti-American, openly supports the Hamas terror organization and glorifies martyrdom for Jihadists.

The warm personal connection with Rotterdam senior adviser Bilal Taner was recently clarified when he was extensively congratulated in an orthodox-religious manner on the Haksöz Haber website for the birth of his daughter. This website serves as a platform for radical Islamists, anti-Israeli and anti-American authors. The radical Turkish movement reject societies which are not based on the Koran.

The International Institute for Counter-Terrorism wrote in a 2005 report that "Haksöz is a Turkish-language Jihad website which glorifies martyrdom, calls for resistance against the occupation in Iraq and the Palestinian territories and shows torture scenes in Iraq". The website shows photos of dead Hamas members with titles such as "to the light of the Koran" and "The martyrs light our way."

The movement supports the armed struggle of Hamas, Which is called a terrorist organization by the EU. In the German-language American Jewish Committee 2006 report "Antisemitism - Made in Iran" (Antisemitismus - Made in Iran) it says: "The goals of Haksöz include uniting Muslims in the battle against Israel and the United States".

The orthodox-religious congratulations to 'our brother in Rotterdam' is signed by prominent members of the Turkish Hasöz Haber movement. Several of the congratulations to the Rotterdam policy official come from important activists who were passengers on the Mavi Marmaris, one of the ship in the flotilla which recently tried to break through the Gaza blockade. The attempt ended in a bloody encounter with the Israeli navy where several people were killed. The dead activists are honored as martyrs by Haksöz.
Read the whole piece here (Islam in Europe and De Telegraaf)

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." [...]

Casa Sefarad-Israel on anti-Semitism in Spain

Source: Spain, Israel and the Jews blog

The Pew Research Center published a report about anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Spain, Poland, Russia, Germany, France, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The report dates from 2008 and showed that 46% of the Spaniards had unfavourable views towards the Jews.  Worried about the results of the report, the Spanish Government made the Casa Sefarad-Israel (an institution centred on the study of Jews and dedicated to foment Spanish-Israeli relations) to take on the issue. Finally, a new report was published, which found the following results:

1) 58.4% of the Spaniards think that the "Jews have much power because they control the economy and the media". Among university students this attitude encompasses the 62.2%, and among people "interested in politics" this attitude encompasses the 70.5%. All of this means that anti-Semitism in Spain is highly worrying and intolerable, due to its level and to the fact that it's higher among educated and informed people.

2) 34.6% of the Spaniards have unfavourable or totally unfavourable opinions about the Jews. This attitude encompasses 34% of the far-rightists (who rate the Jews with 4.9 points in a scale from 1 to 10) and 37.7% of centre-left-wingers (who rate the Jews with 4.6 points in a scale from 1 to 10). This case is unique in Europe because far-rightists show less unpleasantness towards the Jews than centre-left-wingers.

3) Among those who admit to be "unpleasant towards the Jews", 17% of them attribute this attitude to the "Middle East conflict"; 29.6% of them attribute this attitude to "their religion", "their customs", " the way they are", etc.; others among them attribute this attitude to "general unpleasantness", "the power" and "the money"; 17% of them attribute this attitude to reasons they don't know. This means that only a small percentage of the Spaniards show unpleasantness towards the Jews due to "the State of Israel and its policies".

- European Parliament: Spanish representative derides US "Jewish lobby"
- 'The Spanish are not anti-Semitic', they don't know the facts ...
- 46 per cent of Spanish have a negative/very negative view of Jews

22nd century - a Europe without Jews ?

In 2080 there will only be 600,000 Jews left in Europe.

Is is estimated that at present there are just over one million Jews in Europe. Every year a significant number of them leave Europe to settle in Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia. (Take the steady flow of departures from France to Israel in 2005: 2,951, 2006: 2,801, 2007: 2,715, 2008: 1;867, 2009: 1,909).  It is anticipated that by 2080 only 600,000 Jews will be living in Europe. It seems that the world will see a 22nd century Europe without Jews.

André Kaspi, a French historian teaching the history of North America at the Sorbonne, writes in his book about American Jews ("Les Juifs américains"):

"After the Holocaust, there were 11 million Jews in the entire planet. Sixty years later, the total rose to 13 million, or 0.20% of world population. In 2080, it is forecast that there will be 15.5 million Jews in the world, assuming an average fertility rate. In addition to the 4 or 5 million that it is assumed will be living in the United States; 10.5 million in Israel, i.e. 67.8%; and 600,000 in Europe. "

Given this demographic trend, a number of controversies which agitate so many Europeans and European Jews - a slowly vanishing population - seem irrelevant.