To Highlight a Double Standard

This is not a good idea:

Dutch prosecutors said Wednesday they will charge an Arab cultural group under hate speech laws for publishing a cartoon that suggests the death of 6 million Jews during World War II is a fabrication.

The public prosecutor's office in the city of Utrecht said the cartoon insults Jews as a group and is therefore an illegal form of discrimination.

Prosecutors plan to press charges for "insulting a group and distributing an insulting image."

Spokeswoman Mary Hallebeek said the maximum punishment is a year in jail, but a fine of up to euro4,700 ($6,700) is more likely, given that the charges are against the group. The Dutch arm of the Arab European League said it doesn't deny the reality of the Holocaust, but published the cartoon on its Web site as an "act of civil disobedience" to highlight a double standard.

AEL chairman Abdoulmouthalib Bouzerda argued that prosecutors had not pressed charges against Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders for his film that included cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Charges against Wilders, who campaigns on an anti-Islam and anti-immigration platform, were dismissed after prosecutors said his insults were aimed at Muhammad, not all Muslims, and were not systematic.

The charges against the AEL "illustrates what Muslims have been saying for decades," Bouzerda said in a response published on the league's Web site. "Freedom of expression is only a pretext to make life bitter for Muslims ... and if (they) try to bring this hypocrisy to light, that right is denied them."

Bouzerda said anyone should be allowed to publish insulting material in the interest of public debate.

The cartoon shows two apparently Jewish men standing near a pile of skeletons with a sign that says "Auswitch," presumably representing the largest Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz.

One pokes a bone with a stick and says "I don't think they're Jews" and the other answers, "We have to get to the six million somehow."

So - a nasty unfunny cartoon....offensive too. Just ignore it. Otherwise you're simply playing into the hands of this AEL group and the ridiculous Bouzerda. 

Stupid stupid stupid....especially after the Motoons affair, and the acres of print devoted to defending the Danish press, and the right to give offense.

[I first spotted this story in Arab News. It's going to play really well across the Middle East - which is presumably at least part of the point of the whole exercise]

Comments

[TDK]

Not that I fundamentally disagree with you but a high profile failed attempt to prosecute - say the case gets thrown out - might play better than a zero profile story about freedom of speech being utilised again.

Unfortunately I doubt the Dutch authorities have my plan in mind.

[Dom]

"I doubt the Dutch authorities have my plan in mind."

They might. I mean, they may just think this is the best way to get rid of the hate crime laws. The hypocrisy is just a little too blinding. Also, when the original complaint was brought, the authorities could have dismissed it the same way they dismissed complaints about the motoons -- the race was not insulted.

[Noga]

Holocaust denial is not just a matter which should concerns Jews alone. It is an offence against recorded, thoroughly researched and undeniable European history. It's not just an offence, it is a lie, a betrayal of knowledge and truth. It is a totally different matter to the Mohammad cartoons, which insulted people's feelings about their religion. A parallel case would have been if people published cartoon about religious figures or holidays sacred to Jews.

In other words, it's not the cartoon's offensiveness to Jews that should concern Dutch authorities but the injury done to the historical records. Prosecution is not going to redress the problem. Massive educational effort might. But educational exertion probably takes up more effort and money that the Dutch are willing to allocate to the matter so they are trying to do it on the cheap.

[Mick H]

Of course you're right Noga, but I doubt that education will do much good in this case.

[DaninVan]

Man, if telling 'the big' lie' were a criminal offense, there'd be a world wide shortage of politicians.
Go after the pukes for slander and libel in Civil Court; sue the bastards for millions ($6M sound right?)

[TDK]

"Holocaust denial is not just a matter which should concerns Jews alone. It is an offence against recorded, thoroughly researched and undeniable European history."

Well yes but who determines what the truth is.

We live in an era when Russians (despite mixed noises about Katyn) deny their joint responsibility for the destruction of Poland; Turks deny the Armenian massacre and Hamas promote the Protocols of Zion. What's your plan to correct the errors of the Russian government, Turkish government or Hamas?

I would rather accept that historical truth was not a competency of the state and trust that truth will emerge through the free interaction of people. If it is the state's role to reinforce truth then you give sanction to Hamas to teach children that the Holocaust is a fabrication. You give sanction to the Turkish authorities to lock up people who slander the state.