Taliban Hopes Labor Party Will Play Key Role in Dutch Government

The official spokesman of the Afghanistani Taliban, Qari Yusuf Ahmadii, has congratulated the Netherlands on its withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Taliban hope that the Labor party will play a key role in the Dutch government so that the Netherlands will follow a new friendly policy towards Afghanistan. He added that the Labor party, which left the Dutch government over the withdrawing the troops, “has taken one of the most important decisions ever for the Dutch government and the Dutch citizens”.
www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/7277660/__Taliban__laat_PvdA_regeren__.html

Antillean Youngsters Disproportionately Criminal

An evaluation of special projects for Antillean youngsters from 2005 – 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Housing (VROM) shows that these projects have not led to a strong decrease in the number of young Antilleans who drop out of school, become unemployed and break the law. The study was undertaken in 21 communities who have the largest amount of Antilleans in the Netherlands. The researchers found that the data in the communities were not up-to-date, incomplete or not available at all. The researchers say that the government and the communities have been working to solve the problems for many years yet these are complex.
http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article1404016.ece/Aanpak_jonge_Antillianen

Feeling of Approaching Disaster Growing Among Jews

In an op-ed Chairman of the Liberal Jewish Community, Ron van der Wieken and his wife Rosa, a former member of the Amsterdam municipal council, state that the feeling of insecurity and approaching disaster is increasing among Jews in the Netherlands as well as other European countries. Jews experience deep hate anonymously via the internet from, for instance, Moroccan websites in the Netherlands. It also appears in the Dutch press. The anti-Jewish atmosphere that has been created could have unexpected results.
http://www.trouw.nl/religie-filosofie/opinie/podium/article3140544.ece/Gevoel_van_naderend_onheil_groeit_bij_Joden_.html

Pregnant Somali Asylum Seeker Dies in Center Without Proper Medical Assistance

Mariko Peters and Linda Voortman of the Green Left party have asked parliamentary questions about the death of a pregnant Somali woman whilst at the center for asylum seekers in Leersum. Although her medical situation deteriorated doctors did not see any reason for treatment or hospitalization. The next morning the woman died on a mattress in a hallway. She had arrived only a few days earlier in the Netherlands. The parliamentarians said that proper medical care is a human right and as such, also valid for asylum seekers.
www.trouw.nl/nieuws/politiek/article3113218.ece/Vragen_GroenLinks_bij_dood_Somalische.html

Two Military and Another 29 Arrested After 4-Day Walking Event

At the end of the national walking event in Nijmegen the police had to deal with many fights. In total 31 people were arrested of which a number were suspected of violence. Several Dutch military were involved in manhandling another soldier. The victim and one suspected perpetrator were handed over to the military police.
www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1012/Binnenland/article/detail/499768/2010/07/24/Veel-vechtpartijen-op-laatste-avond-Vierdaagse.dhtml

Senior Labor Member: The Party is a Mess

In an article in the weekly Elsevier former Labor Ministers Ed van Thijn, Bram Stemerdink and former international secretary of the party, Harry van der Bergh attacked the party’s leadership. They focus on the decision of the previous party leader, Wouter Bos, to refuse to extend the presence of the Dutch military force in Afghanistan and the resulting cabinet crisis in February. Stemerdink said that this was the policy of a small grocer. Van der Bergh called it a dramatically stupid decision saying the party is in a mess. Furthermore he expressed his doubt about the capacities of the current leader Job Cohen saying “His sole experience is the link between Amsterdam and the capital of Nicaragua”.
http://www.elsevier.nl/web/Artikel/271253/PvdAprominenten-Het-is-een-zootje-binnen-de-partij.htm#

Dutch Soldiers Fake Drug Problems to Avoid Serving in Afghanistan

Several Dutch military who do not want to serve with the Dutch forces in Afghanistan fake drug problems. That usually results in their dishonorable discharge. They prefer this over refusal as refusal is punishable and may even lead to jail sentences. Since 2007 there is a clear increase in the number of discharges due to drug use. This data results from Defense Ministry figures.
www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/7200994/__Drugs_als_ont-snappingsconstructie__.html?sn=binnenland

Dutch Military Wounded in Soccer Riots on Curaçao

A massive fight broke out in the capital Willemstad on the Antillean island Curaçao, after the Netherlands lost the world cup soccer final to Spain. Dutch supporters attacked a local person who was dancing with a Spanish flag. Thereupon people started throwing beer bottles and tiles on Dutch supporters, which included a group of military. The police shot into the air to disperse the rioters. Three Dutch soldiers were wounded. Helmin Wiels, leader of the local Independence party Pueblo Soberano called the riots a type of Dutch re-colonization. He said that Curaçao now suffers from typical Dutch football violence, something which is not a local phenomenon.
http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/article7168173.ece?cid=rss

Al-Qaeda Threatens Wilders With Death

The Al-Qaeda paper Inspire threatens Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders and others such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Danish cartoonish Kurt Westergaard and Salman Rushdie, with death. The paper which is meant for radical Muslims in Europe and North America also contains instructions on how to make home-made bombs. The paper is probably prepared by one of the leaders of Al-Qaeda in Yemin, Anwar Al-Awlaki. He is considered to have given the order for the failed bomb attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on a flight from Amsterdam airport to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/7183516/__Wilders_bedreigd_in_Al-Qaedablad__.html

Family Members of Srebrenica Victims Take Dutch Military To Court

Lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld has announced that she has initiated a court case against three military personnel who were part of the Dutch force in Srebrenica in 1995citing genocide and war crimes. Zegveld said that the Dutch Prosecutors Office has never undertaken criminal investigations of what happened there even though it was obliged to do so under European conventions. The court case was brought against the Dutch officers on behalf of Hasan Nuhanovic and surviving relatives of Rizo Mustafic as the Dutch military transferred their family members to Bosnian Serbs in July 1995 who subsequently murdered them.
www.elsevier.nl/web/Nieuws/Nederland/269977/Aangifte-tegen-Dutchbatters-vanwege-Srebrenicadrama.htm?rss=true

Chief Rabbi: Decoy Jews Won’t Help Fight Anti-Semitism

Chief Rabbi Jacobs, who chairs the Orthodox Rabbinate in the Netherlands, says that police decoys dressed up as ultra-orthodox will not prevent the growth of anti-Semitism in the Netherlands. He added “I recently left my home and from a park a four year old immigrant child pointed his finger at me and shouted ‘Jew, Jew’, and recently during a memorial ceremony, while I was speaking, Dutch youngsters shouted ‘Heil Hitler’”. Jacobs added that he has never visited the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam because it encourages the myth that many Dutch hid Jews from the Nazis. Rather he encourages visits to the former Jewish theater in Amsterdam where the Jews were collected, with the help of the Dutch, prior to being sent to extermination camps. Jacobs concluded that education has to play a much larger role in the fight against anti-Semitism.
http://www.refdag.nl/nieuws/jacobs_geef_tolerantie_plek_in_onderwijs_1_489360

Los Angeles Times: Dutch Destroyed Soccer World Cup Final

The Los Angeles Times heavily criticized the play of the Dutch team in the soccer world cup final. “Sunday’s World Cup final was supposed to be a display of the subtlety and grace of ‘beautiful football.’ Instead, the Dutch destroyed it, displaying all the subtlety and grace of a street fight by earning nine yellow cards and a red card, a record for a World Cup final”.
www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-world-cup-championship-20100712,0,5221260,print.story

Minister: Netherlands will not Apologize for Srebrenica

The Dutch Minister of Defense, Eimert van Middelkoop (Christian Union), has spoken at the memorial meeting near Srebrenica where, 15 years ago, eight thousand Muslims were murdered by Bosnian Serbs. The Minister said that the Netherlands will not apologize for its role in the fall of the Muslim enclave in Bosnia. “If somebody has to apologize,” he said “it has to be the United Nations as the international community failed in the events surrounding the fall of Srebrenica”. There was also a memorial meeting in the Hague where former Dutch Minister Jan Pronk (Labor) said that the Dutch political system still denies responsibility for what happened in Srebrenica. Already in 2002 he had said that the Netherlands should have done more to protect the Muslims and that Dutch politics had failed.
www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article1399402.ece/Excuses_Srebrenica_meer_zaak_van_VN
www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/article1399134.ece/Jan_Pronk__Verantwoordelijkheid_Srebrenica_nog_steeds_ontkend

Somalis Poorest Performers in Schools

In the annual report on integration of the Social and Cultural Planning Bureau mention is made that Somalis have extremely high percentages of school dropouts, unemployment and drug addiction. Many of them become criminals according to the General Intelligence Service (AIVD) and warns that they might radicalize.
www.trouw.nl/achtergrond/deverdieping/article3109717.ece/Somaliers_zijn_nu_het_zorgenkind__.html

Dutch Smuggling of Soft Drugs Finances Somali Terror Group

Two former Swedish drug smugglers said on Dutch Radio 1 that the Somali terror organization Al-Shahab earns millions of Euros from the smuggling of the soft drug Qat, via the Netherlands. The Netherlands and the United Kingdom are the only European countries where the drug is legal. The Swedish police has suspected Al-Shahab of Qat smuggling for a long time. The Somali organization is linked to Al-Quaida. Swedish Euro-parliamentarian Olle Schmidt said the attitude of the Netherlands is a problem. “I hope this new information about the link of terrorism to the smuggling of the drug will be a wake-up call for the Dutch government.
www.eo.nl/programma/ditisdedag/2009-2010/page/Nederlandse_qat_smokkel_financiert_terreurorganisatie_Al_Shabab/articles/article.esp?article=11726790

Commission Condemns Heads of Regional Police Corps

A commission headed by former Mayor, Ad Havermans of the Hague, has concluded that there were many abuses in the Police Corps of the Central are of the province of Gelderland. This was the fifth investigation into the problems of that Corps.
http://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/nederland/article3111012.ece/Top_politie_Gelderland-Midden_onprofessioneel.html

Chairwoman of Labor: Increased Conflict Within Party

An investigation by two senior members of the Labor party on behalf of the former board of the party section in Amsterdam New West found that the Labor party chairwoman, Lillianne Ploumen, has tried to manipulate the rules in order to promote her personal favorite Ahmed Marcouch as leader of the party’s election list in that area. The investigators concluded that the intervention of Ploumen has led to polarization and that she tried to promote that party members in that section could not vote for candidates of their choice.
www.trouw.nl/nieuws/politiek/article3105776.ece/Zware_kritiek_op_Ploumen_in_zaak__Marcouch_.html

Bank Doesn’t Want Prostitutes as Clients

The Amsterdam Rabobank has refused to open a bank account for Vakwerk, the trade union of prostitutes. This was announced by Metje Blaak, spokesperson of the Union. The bank did not want to be associated with women who would pay their contributions in to the union account. Blaak said that legally working prostitutes cannot open business accounts in the Netherlands. The Union is considering putting forward a complaint to the anti-discrimination commission.
www.parool.nl/parool/nl/4/AMSTERDAM/article/detail/300685/2010/06/22/Rabobank-weigert-vakbond-prostituees.dhtml

Ministry of Defense Forbids Publication on Srebrenica

The Ministry of Defense has prohibited the publication of a magazine for non-commanding offices about Srebrenica. This was announced by the TV program Netwerk. The head of the communications department of the Ministry has prohibited the publication because it “most probably will damage the army”. At this time the Ministry of Defense only wants positive publicity. Parliamentarians of the Liberals, Labor, Socialists and the D66 party oppose the prohibition. They don’t see any reason to turn Srebrenica in to a taboo subject.
www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1025/TV-Radio/article/detail/493039/2010/06/24/Minister-publicatie-over-Srebrenica-mag-wel.dhtml

Obsolete Data Led to Misleading Conclusion About Decline of Anti-Semitism

The recently published report on racial discrimination is based on one and a half year old data. This report of the Monitor Racisme came to the misleading conclusion that anti-Semitism in the Netherlands was declining. It based itself on comparing 2008 data with that of the year 2006 which was a peak year for anti-Semitic incidents. In 2009 the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) showed an increase of 55% in incidents. A major increase was also registered by the Monitoring Point Amsterdam and the internet discrimination monitor.
www.cidi.nl/Nieuwsberichten/Monitor-rassendiscriminatie-2009-hanteert-oude-cijfers.html

50,000 Condemned People Are Not Punished

The RTL news service has discovered based on its own research, that there are 50,000 criminals in the Netherlands who have been sentenced, many of whom should be in jail but are not. Out of these 463 are major criminals. 18,000 have been sentenced to jail; 3,500 have been sentenced to community service, which they have not undertaken and thus the sentence is commuted to prison. 29,000 others have not paid fines, some of whom now should go to jail. The authorities offer a variety of reasons for this situation, only one of which is the lack of police capacity. The figure has not decreased over the years.
www.trouw.nl/nieuws/nederland/article3109117.ece/_Vijftigduizend_veroordeelden_ontlopen_straf_.html