Haneen Zoabi abuses Kristallnacht in Amsterdam comparing Israel to the Nazis

An alternative Kristallnacht memorial ceremony was held in Amsterdam, next to the monument honoring Jewish resistance against the German occupiers during the Second World War.  Such annual ceremonies often turn into incitement against Israel, and this year was no exception.  Arab-Israeli parliamentarian Haneen Zoabi spoke, comparing Israel to Nazi Germany in the 1930s.  (Comment: if this were even remotely true, Zoabi would be sitting in a Dachau-style concentration camp and not in the Israeli parliament.)  The mayor of Amsterdam, knowing Zoabi’s record of extreme incitement, had given permission for the memorial ceremony.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Zoabi-doubles-down-to-Post-What-is-happening-in-Israel-is-even-more-dangerous-than-Germany-432500

Ütrecht: 32 arrests at Pegida demonstration

Thirty-two people were arrested in Ütrecht on Sunday during a demonstration by the anti-Islam movement Pegida.  The arrested included both adherents of Pegida and opponents.  The arrests were made for refusing to obey police orders, failure to carry ID, and for exhibiting insulting posters and banners.  One banner stated that “the Koran is poison”.  Another stated that “Islamisation is EU-thanasia”.

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2015/11/twenty-arrests-at-pegida-demonstration-in-utrecht/

Left of Center Parties Vote against Motion to Fight Anti-Semitism

Parliamentarian Joram van Klaveren (Voor Nederland) presented a motion asking the government to counter anti-Semitism within the educational system.  The motion noted the use of anti-Semitic educational tools within Dutch educational programs, and the fact that many history teachers rarely dare to teach the holocaust.  In addition, it notes the case of a trainee teacher in the town of Almere, who was teaching students that ISIS, the Islamic State, is a Jewish conspiracy. The motion passed by a small majority.  The left wing parties, Labor, Green Left, the Socialist Party and the Party for the Animals voted against the motion, as did two Turkish Dutch parliamentarians who had left the Labor Party.

file:///D:/Users/user/Downloads/Motie_van_het_lid_Van_Klaveren_over_tegengaan_van_antisemitisme_in_het_onderwijs_%20(11).pdf

picture by Enokson, on flickr

Policeman suspected of leaking Information to Gangs

The Dutch police has arrested a policeman, who is suspect of having passed important secret police information to drug and motor-gangs. The arrest is not related to that of a few weeks earlier of another policeman suspect of passing confidential information to gangs. 

www.omroepbrabant.nl/?news/237392982/Corrupte+agent+werkt+bij+Dienst+Infrastructuur+in+Son.aspx

Research shows many mistakes in scientific psychological publications

Half of the psychology articles in scientific journals contain one or more statistical mistakes.  In most cases, this is the result of negligence, such as typos and mistaken rounding up or down of statistics.  In one out of eight cases, however, major negligence was found in the calculations, which impacted directly on the statistical results.  This was discovered in a study carried out by methods expert Michele Nuijten, who tested a random sample of 30,000 articles.  In most of the cases, the mistakes were in line with the opinions expressed by the researchers themselves on the subject of their papers.  Together with another researcher, Nuijten has developed a program which can check statistical inaccuracies.  It can assess whether the mistakes are accidental or not.  In papers where the mistakes were not accidental, frequently more errors were found.

http://www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/-grove-onzorgvuldigheden-in-deel-psychologische-studies~a4173086/

Investigation of downed military plane – military intelligence knew of the risks

The Dutch military intelligence service (MIVD) knew of the presence of long-range anti-aircraft artillery in eastern Ukraine at the time of the lethal attack which downed the Malaysian MH17 flight. Almost 300 people were killed, most of whom were Dutch.  This was acknowledged in parliament by Tjibbe Joustra, chairman of the investigation council for security.  Despite this knowledge, the MIVD did not warn airlines that flying over the eastern Ukraine was unsafe.

http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/24694908/__MIVD_wist_van_zware_wapens__.html

Turkish government sends "improper" letter to Turks in the Netherlands

The Dutch Foreign Minister, Bert Koenders (Labor Party), has summoned the Turkish Ambassador to The Hague, following a letter sent by the Turkish government to Turks living in the Netherlands exhorting them to vote for President Erdogan’s AK party in the Turkish parliamentary elections.  The Dutch government called the letter “improper”.  Koenders said that the Turkish Ambassador was summoned in order to express The Netherland’s dissatisfaction with this move, and requested that it should not happen again.  Koenders further told the Ambassador that he is worried about freedom of the press in Turkey, following the attacks on press offices in that country.

http://www.elsevier.nl/Nederland/nieuws/2015/10/Turkse-ambassadeur-op-matje-over-brief-Turken-2710910W/