Arabs charged over Dutch cartoon

[Uthman]

An Arab organisation is to be put on trial in the Netherlands over its publication of a cartoon deemed offensive to Jews, prosecutors say.

The cartoon, published by the Arab European League (AEL) on its website, questions the Holocaust.

It said the decision to prosecute illustrated bias against Muslims.

It said the same standards were not applied to the Dutch MP Geert Wilders, who made a film including cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Last month prosecutors said they would not put the far-right MP on trial for distributing the controversial Danish cartoons, which caused a storm of protest after their publication in 2005.

Freedom of expression is only a pretext to make life bitter for Muslims
Abdoulmouthalib Bouzerda
AEL chairman

However, he is still being investigated separately for inciting hatred against Muslims by making statements comparing Islam to Nazism.

But Dutch prosecutors said the AEL cartoon was "discriminatory" and "offensive to Jews as a group... because it offends Jews on the basis of their race and/or religion".

The cartoon shows two men standing near a pile of bones at "Auswitch" (sic). One says "I don't think they're Jews".

The other replies: "We have to get to the six million somehow."

A spokeswoman for the prosecuting authority said the group could be fined up to 4,700 euros (£4,100), though in theory a prison sentence was also possible.

'Perverse'

AEL chairman Abdoulmouthalib Bouzerda said the charges proved "what Muslims have been saying for decades".

"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."

The AEL says it does not deny the facts of the Holocaust but posted the cartoon as an "act of civil disobedience".

It said it had agreed to remove it from its site, but reversed that decision to protest over the failure to prosecute Geert Wilders.

"Double standards are being applied," it said in a statement.

But Jewish groups said it was not reasonable for the group to express its opposition to alleged bias against Muslims, by attacking Jews.

Ronny Naftaniel of the Center for Documentation on Israel, said: "Imagine if Dutch Jews insulted Muslims every time they heard an anti-Semitic remark. What kind of perverse world would we be living in?"

Tensions over the Netherlands' Muslim population have increased in recent years, notably since the killing of a controversial film-maker by a Muslim extremist in 2004.

Source

[Uthman]

Although they had a valid point about double standards, I think that ultimately this was the wrong thing to do. Muslims need not sink to that level.

[S_87]

Muslims need not sink to that level.

yup quite sad that this is all muslims can do

[Güven]

Although they had a valid point about double standards, I think that ultimately this was the wrong thing to do. Muslims need not sink to that level.

I do agree that they didnt had sink to their level though,

but I watched that debate of the bro. And I thought that he had made some really good points. he was calm and collected.

They said that the Prophet Muhammed(saw) doesnt represent the Muslims and Islam wich is why they can make cartoons about Muhammed(saw) and say that is part of their "Freedom of expression."

why should cartoons about the Holocaust be a target and an big insult to all jews? why cant we also say that it is merely a freedom of expression? like they do with the cartoons about our prophet, THE most important figure of Islam. Aren't they also targeting a group?

[The_Prince]

i dont think these guys were sinking to any level, they did this on purpose to show that they would be attacked and tried to be silenced, so they were trying to prove a point, not cause an intentional attack.

for instance i once made a video titled the holocaust didnt happen, just as a video title, the content of my video was just to talk about how ppl felt from the title, and lol i got my youtube account suspended, which proved my point that freedom of speech doesnt apply to Muslims, and only applied against Muslims.

[The_Prince]

also why are Jews considered a race, but when it comes to Muslims we always hear how Muslims are not a race! You got Jews from many different countries, and many arent related to each other! you got black african Jews, yemeni Jews, and European white Jews who happen to look down on the former two! dont forget about Iranian Jews too!

[GreyKode]

also why are Jews considered a race, but when it comes to Muslims we always hear how Muslims are not a race! You got Jews from many different countries, and many arent related to each other! you got black african Jews, yemeni Jews, and European white Jews who happen to look down on the former two! dont forget about Iranian Jews too!

I've tried bending my brain over to understand this but never could, are jews a race? then how come all the colours, are they a religion? then how is Israel a democracy and not a theocracy, how is it any different from a khilafa?.
And the biggest question of all, how come all those ethnicities are descendants of bani Israel, and what about those who converted to Islam or chrisitianity etc etc.

[The_Prince]

I've tried bending my brain over to understand this but never could, are jews a race? then how come all the colours, are they a religion? then how is Israel a democracy and not a theocracy, how is it any different from a khilafa?.
And the biggest question of all, how come all those ethnicities are descendants of bani Israel, and what about those who converted to Islam or chrisitianity etc etc.

there was once a tribe called judah, but many of todays Jews dont come from Judah. the Israelites used to be a race, but again modern day Jews, most of them at least, dont come from Israelites! Offcourse some Jews can trace back, but not all of them, many have been converted, especially the white ones who came from europe.

heck even Jews got offended when they were officially recognized as a race, they said well that ties in to what hitler was saying, that the jews were a race, and an inferior race etc etc, so they didnt like being labelled as a race.

[Muhaba]

it's the muslims' own fault that we are so weak now.

[czgibson]

Greetings,

It definitely looks like there are double standards here, but I agree with Uthman that publishing a hateful cartoon out of spite is not the most sensible thing to do.

One hilarious point is this:

Freedom of expression is only a pretext to make life bitter for Muslims.

That has to be the most insanely paranoid statement I've seen in a long time.

Peace