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Swedish foreign ministry distances itself from its Israel ambassador on organ story
TEL AVIV (WJC)—The Swedish Government, currently presiding the European Union, has distanced itself from a statement made by its ambassador to Israel, in which she criticized a claim made in a Swedish newspaper that Israel troops killed Palestinian youths and harvested their organs.
"The condemnation was solely the judgment of the Embassy [in Tel Aviv], and designed for an Israeli audience," said a statement released on Thursday by the Swedish Foreign Ministry. "The article in the Swedish newspaper 'Aftonbladet' is as shocking and appalling to us Swedes, as it is to Israeli citizens," said Ambassador Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier on Wednesday.
"Just as in Israel, freedom of the press prevails in Sweden," Bonnier said. "However, freedom of the press and freedom of expression are freedoms which carry a certain responsibility." The article in Sweden's biggest-selling newspaper sparked widespread debate both in Sweden and abroad. The article claims that as far back as 1992, the IDF was taking organs from Palestinian youths it killed, and also mentions an ongoing US crime investigation involving members of the American Jewish community.
"Aftonbladet" Editor Jan Helin accused the Swedish ambassador in Tel Aviv of "a flagrant assault on freedom of speech" for her criticism, and rejected any suggestion of anti-Semitism by his paper. He called the article an opinion piece that raises questions about an Israeli link in an American investigation of a New Jersey crime ring. Among the suspects in that case is an American Jew who has been accused of selling organs.
The New York-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said in a statement that the article was "shocking" and lodged a complaint with the Swedish Embassy in Washington.
Prosecutors drop anti-Islam case against Geert Wilders; will prosecute AEL Holocaust denial
AMSTERDAM (WJC)—Dutch prosecutors have declined to bring charges against the controversial parliamentarian Geert Wilders, who on trial for distributing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, but in a separate case found that a Holocaust-denying cartoon was punishable. The Prosecutor's Office had received complaints about Wilders reproducing controversial Danish cartoons of the prophet on his website, as well as their display on a television program. It had also received complaints about two cartoons published on the website of the Arab-European League (AEL) lobby group, one of which allegedly shows Jews denying that the Holocaust happened.
The Danish cartoons and their reproduction were not punishable, the prosecutors said in a statement. "The cartoons are about the Prophet Mohamed, but don't say anything about Muslims. None of the cartoons are offensive toward Muslims or contribute to hatred, discrimination or violence against Muslims."
The Holocaust cartoon "is punishable because it offends Jews on the basis of their race and/or religion." The AEL has agreed to remove the cartoon from its Dutch website, said the statement. "If it complies, charges will be provisionally dropped." However, the cartoon was republished on the AEL website following the statement by the Prosecutor's Office. On its website, AEL chairman Abdoulmouthalib Bouzerda accused it of applying double standards, adding that 'Given the decision not to interpret the Mohammed cartoon as offensive to Muslims, the decision that the publication of the AEL cartoon is liable to prosecution is incomprehensible.' AEL claims the cartoon does not express its views and is not intended to offend a specific group.
The Mohammed cartoons originally appeared in Danish newspapers in September 2005, sparking violent protests across the Islamic world.
In a separate investigation, Geert Wilders faces prosecution for inciting hatred against Muslims by making statements comparing Islam to Nazism. He made a 17-minute film called "Fitna" which UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said was "offensively anti-Islamic". The screening of the film last year also prompted protests in Muslim nations. Several years ago, Wilders founded a populist party which campaigns against immigration from Islamic countries.
ZOA deplores Yale University refusal to republish Danish cartoons of Muhammad
NEW YORK (Press Release)--The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has deplored as an ill-conceived and craven surrender to fear of Islamist violence the decision made by Yale University Press to discard from a forthcoming book images of the cartoons of Muhammad first published in 2005. The book by professor of politics at Brandeis University, Jytte Klausen, The Cartoons That Shook the World, was to have included the twelve 2005 cartoons of Muhammad published by the Danish publication, “Jyllands-Posten”. It was also to have included other illustrations, including a 19th-century print depicting Muhammad in hell by Gustave Doré which has been frequently reproduced in books. The 2005 Danish cartoons led to an orchestrated campaign of violent protests and boycotts in Asia and Africa that claimed the lives of over 200 people.
Author Jytte Klausen reluctantly accepted Yale University Press’ decision, but was disturbed by the fact that other representations of Muhammad, like Doré’s had also been excluded. The scene depicted by Dore has also been depicted by Botticelli, Blake, Rodin and Dalí. John Donatich, the director of Yale University Press, said he had been involved in publishing other controversial books and “I’ve never blinked.” But, he said, “when it came between that and blood on my hands, there was no question” (Patricia Cohen, ‘Yale Press Bans images of Muhammad in New Book,’ New York Times, August 12, 2009). Donatich also said that Yale had consulted a range of experts before making its decision and that "[a]ll confirmed that the republication of the cartoons by the Yale University Press ran a serious risk of instigating violence” (Christopher Hitchens, ‘Yale Surrenders,’ Slate.com, August 17, 2009).
Yale’s decision has also been criticized by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) whose President Cary Nelson released a statement paraphrasing the logic behind it by saying “We do not negotiate with terrorists. We just accede to their anticipated demands … [Yale is] not responding to protests against the book; they and a number of their consultants are anticipating them and making or recommending concessions beforehand … The issues are: 1) an author’s academic freedom; 2) the reputation of the press and the university; 3) the impact of these twin decisions on other university presses and publication venues; 4) the potential to encourage broader censorship of speech by faculty members or other authors. What is to stop publishers from suppressing an author’s words if it appears they may offend religious fundamentalists or groups threatening violence? We deplore this decision and its potential consequences” (‘Academic Freedom Abridged at Yale Press,’ AAUP statement, August 13, 2009).
ZOA National Executive Director Gary Ratner said, “There has been an alarming propensity in Western societies to pre-emptively surrender to merely an apprehension of a threat of Islamist violence. Such violence is feared or threatened in response to people doing nothing more than lawfully expressing an opinion, displaying a work of art or publishing a book. This problem has been with us since at least the Rushdie affair in 1989 and steadily grown.
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“In recent years, we have seen churches destroyed and nuns in Somalia murdered because the Pope in a scholarly lecture merely quoted some harsh criticism of Mohammad by a 14th century Byzantine emperor. We have seen London’s Tate Gallery remove a work showing the Quran torn in half. We have seen a performance of a Mozart opera in Berlin cancelled because it was to have included a scene involving the severed head of Muhammad. There are many more examples of this sort of pre-emptive self-censorship.
“The issue is not whether these works are good or bad or whether the fear of violence is well-founded or ill-founded. The issue is that they are legal and that freedom of expression, debate and inquiry is an essential element of a law-abiding, democratic free society. It is only right to discuss, publish and view these things. If credible threats of Islamist violence exist, that is a matter for police, security services, the law courts and, not least, the Muslim umbrella bodies and leadership in this country. It is not for publishers, galleries, universities or other bodies to cravenly surrender our precious liberties.
“To accept the logic implicit in the explanation provided by Yale University Press’s Mr. Donatich, one will have to accept from now on that a scantily-clad woman walking down a street ‘instigates’ the sexual assault that a rapist chooses to make on her. Mr. Donatich seems to have no understanding of the basic fact that those who murder or maim are the ones with blood on their hands, not the ones who do something that is lawful and thereby arouse the criminality of others.
“It is true that evil people act violently on the knowledge or at the sight of things they detest – women walking freely down a street, or Jews living in their own country – but since when does a line of causation equate with responsibility? White supremacists are enraged when they see African-Americans living freely and sometimes react to that fact with murderous violence. Does that mean African-Americans are responsible for the violence of white racists? Who would be willing to accept such a false, repulsive and dishonorable argument?
“In the interest of liberty, free speech, human rights and at a deeper level, our long-term security, Yale university press should rescind this deplorable and craven decision.”
Syria's Assad on one-dayfriendship mission to Iran
TEHRAN (WJC)—Syrian President Bashar Assad has paid a one-day visit to Iran and said the two countries were fighting "on the same front." In Tehran, he congratulated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his re-election. Assad also condemned "foreign intervention" in Iran's internal affairs. He said the West feared Syria and Iran's success in the coming years. The fact that Iranians voted Ahmadinejad in for another term is "an important lesson for foreigners," he declared according to Iranian media.
Assad denounced 'foreign intervention' in Iranian affairs, an apparent reference to Western disapproval of the violent suppression of Iranian protestors in recent weeks. Hundreds of thousands turned out to protest following the presidential elections, claiming that the election had been rigged in Ahmadinejad's favor.
Berman, in China, seeks halt
to nuclear proliferation
BEIJING (Press Release)— Led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard L. Berman (D-CA), a bipartisan delegation of members of Congress discussed an array of issues of interest to both China and the United States, ranging from regional security concerns to the environment.
“The bilateral relationship has made remarkable progress over the last thirty years,” Berman said in a statement Thursday, August 20, “and our two sides share a common commitment to build a positive and cooperative relationship for the 21st century.”
“However,” he noted, “in spite of our common agenda, there remains work to be done on some serious issues – first and foremost, on stopping the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula.”
Berman and his colleagues pressed Chinese leaders to continue working closely with the international community to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.
“A nuclear weapons-capable Iran would be a threat to security and stability in the Persian Gulf and beyond,” Berman said. “By continuing to enrich uranium, Iran is flouting the will of the international community, as expressed in numerous UN Security Council resolutions supported by both the US and China.
“The clock is ticking on Iran to engage in serious dialogue regarding this matter,” Berman added. “If it does not respond to our offer of engagement by early this fall, I believe the international community, including China, must move to impose tougher economic measures to change Iran’s policies. In my meetings, I have emphasized to leaders here that China and the United States share a common goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability and ensuring that peace and stability are maintained in the Middle East. I also urged the Chinese that we must continue to work in close cooperation with each other and our partners in the Security Council to convince Tehran to change direction before it’s too late."
But Berman and his colleagues also expressed “deep disappointment” with recent multi-billion-dollar energy deals signed with Iran by Chinese state-owned companies. “This is exactly the wrong signal to send to Iran at a time when Tehran continues to enrich uranium in defiance of the international community,” Berman said.
In late April Berman introduced the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (H.R. 2194), bipartisan legislation that would bar from the U.S. market companies that are involved in exporting refined petroleum products to Iran or in helping Iran increase or maintain its existing domestic refining capacity. He has held off bringing the bill up for consideration before the Foreign Affairs Committee in order to give the Obama Administration and its international partners time to work on diplomacy with Iran.
Regarding North Korea, Berman said “North Korea’s continued refusal to live up to its commitments to cease its nuclear activities and permanently dismantle its nuclear facilities puts the security of both China and the United States at risk. North Korea must return to the Six Party Talks without delay and without conditions.
“The United States and China share the same goal of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula and agree that the multilateral talks are the best way forward to achieve this goal," Berman noted. "The North Korean nuclear issue has been an area of positive cooperation between the U.S. and China, and I expect that it will continue to be in the future.”
Berman and his colleagues met with NPC Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo,Vice Premier Wang Qishan, NPC Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Li Zhaoxing, Foreign Affairs Minister Yang Jiechi and Commerce Minister Chen Deming. Among the topics they discussed in addition to nuclear nonproliferation were protection of intellectual property (IP) rights, respect for human rights and the rule of law.
“China’s efforts to stop intellectual property theft have been weak and ineffective,” Berman said. “Hundreds of websites provide downloads and links to pirated movies, recordings and games. And sales of ‘hard goods’ such as illegally duplicated CDs and DVDs continue at close to ninety percent of what they were before China launched its vaunted anti-piracy campaign. It’s time for more serious action.”
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