Dutch authorities dragging their feet
The incitement to violence seems plain enough:
"The Public Prosecutor's Office in the Netherlands is investigating whether to prosecute anti-Israel demonstrators for using hate speech. During various demonstrations last weekend against the conflict in the Gaza Strip some people shouted anti-Semitic slogans, such as 'Hamas, Hamas, Jews should be gassed'.
Minister of Justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin has refused to comment on specific cases but has confirmed that the public prosecutor is reviewing video tapes of the demonstrations. Prosecutions could still follow:
"Freedom of speech has a high value in our legal system, however freedom of speech has its limits and therefore the public prosecutor will investigate any situations in which speech, expressions have clearly offensive meaning."
But the foremost organisation representing Dutch Jews, the Centre for Information and Documentation [on] Israel (CIDI), says the police's reluctance to intervene sends a message that inciting hatred against Jews is acceptable.
Source
7 comments:
I am a proponent of free speech ... until it involves death threats or suggests death.
"I wish Fido were dead" is only stating you wish Fido were dead. "Send Fido to the gas chamber" is instigating a reaction to send Fido to the gas chamber.
I consider "I wish Fido were dead" as if it were an opinion. "Send Fido to the gas chamber" is trying to incite a murder.
The standard in America tends to deal with "imminent" or "proximate" harm.
Standing on a street corner advocating the construction of gas chambers for use against a generic ethnic population is protected.
Standing on a street corner and shouting "get HIM!" when an identifiable member of that ethnic population walks by is not protected.
It may seem an insignificant distinction, but it is a distinction that we live with in America.
To call for the gassing of Jews in America would be protected, just as demonstrations calling for a "solution" to the "Palestinian Problem" involving the IDF is also protected. To urge a wound up crowd to take its anger out on a passing Jew or Palestinian is NOT protected.
This is the same country that wants to prosecute Geert Wilders for telling the truth about Islam.
This from the same government that has just decided to prosecute Geert Wilders for Fitna. If these hate filled protestors get a pass while Geert Wilder's is prosecuted, It will prove Fitna right. The Islamization of Europe is alive and active.
"There is absolutely no hesistation by authorities when muslims or gays are the 'victims'
The squeeky wheel......etc!
And with the court order that forces criminal charges be brought against Geert Wilders for his movie Fitna (and his statements that the Q'Uran should be banned if it were treated the same way as Hitler's Mein Kampf), justice in the Netherlands is in trouble if they don't prosecute communist party MPs who took part in those anti-Israeli, pro-Hamas protests and zealously chanted anti-Semitic statements calling for the extermination of Jews and the destruction of Israel.
How can a freedom have limits?
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