Bad News from the Netherlands
rootlesscosmo
12,848 Posts
The Israeli cunts thread made me think of this.
Some really, really disturbing stuff going on in the Netherlands these days.
http://badnewsfromthenetherlands.blogspot.com/
Some really, really disturbing stuff going on in the Netherlands these days.
http://badnewsfromthenetherlands.blogspot.com/
Comments
Just thought I'd get Godwin's Law out of the way up front there.
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???.
This is a great idea, seeing as the geo-political state of Israel is so similar to that of The Netherlands.
International media sonnage!
But who cares really?
Remember the international piracy fiasco where those poor fully armed Israeli commandos that boarded the aid ship from a helicopter (in international waters) and were set upon by blood thirsty charity and relief workers?
That resulted in NO FUCKING ACTION WHATSOEVER, so its pretty clear that no one cares what Israel does.
Move along, nothing to see here.
soulstrut comedy gold.
Yep. comedy indeed. funny shit huh?
Ill prolly regret stretching this thread any longer, but here goes.
two things:
1. The point of the blog I linked to is not that "the geo-political state of Israel is so similar to that of The Netherlands." That's obviously not the case. The author of the blog is using a cheeky device whereby a country other than Israel is given the sort of media attention he/she feels Israel is accorded. (I think he/she uses the Netherlands as an example because it's generally viewed as a benign, progressive country and/or the author lives there.) It seemed apropos given the fact that an entire Soulstrut thread had been started relating to a sexual assault in Israel. I don't see a lot of threads devoted to bank robberies in Spain or serial murders in Mali or child rape in Cambodia. But an entire thread relating to a crime that took place in Israel is somehow deemed normal or understandable. The point of the blog I linked to (I think) and the point of my post in linking to said blog was just that. (The aim of my linking to that blog was not to take aim at your country of residence; I myself have lived in the Netherlands and have a lot of love for the country actually).
2. Your assertion that "its pretty clear that no one cares what Israel does" describes some sort of parallel universe. Israel has got to be the most heavily covered/scrutinized country in the world media-wise. The assertion is particularly head-scratch-worthy in the context of the Gaza flotilla thing, given that this particular event engendered weeks and weeks of print/TV/internet media attention, was actually discussed on the floor of the United Nations, and has most recently led to an Israeli commission of inquiry.
Ill prolly regret posting n this thread, but here goes.
The thread was never about an assult.
lt was about an outrageous court ruling.
lf the Netherlands or France had made the same kind of ruling there would likely be a thread about that.
you really believe that? you really believe this was some i'm-simply-commenting-on-what-I-percieve-to-be-an-unjust-legal-decision-recently-handed-down-in-asia? like REALLY really? given the TITLE of dude's post? pls to be srs.
Well, it was an absolutely outrageous court ruling. Why would you deny that? And yes, if it had happened in another part of the world, MAYBE it wouldn't have been posted. But the things that get posted on a message board are pretty arbitrary in the first place. Do you ever stop and wonder why Harvey Canal makes posts about Z-Ro. Would he make those posts if Z-Ro was, *gasp*, British? Really?
an apology of sorts
re: 1 mkay.
re: 2 i conceed that a lot of people do care, unfortunatly the worlds elected officials dont seem to care enough to hold Israel accountable for its actions. If anyone denies this, then it is they who are living in a parallel universe.
Weeks and weeks of print/TV/internet media attention, discussion on the floor of the United Nations, and an Israeli (!?!) commission of inquiry mean completely fuck all to both the Israeli govenment and the Palestinian people.
Its crystal clear that Israel can do whatever it wants and the world will stand by and watch.
Im done.
Currently, the EU-Israel Association Agreement[1] forms the legal basis governing relations between Israel and the European Union.
Upgrading the Association Agreement is currently on hold following a vote in the European Parliament to postpone the issue in December 2008, due to continuing settlement-building and the blockade of the Gaza Strip[3]. UK MPs Clare Short and Derek Wyatt have suggested suspending or terminating the agreement in the light of Israel???s "violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories".
The principle of Israel joining the European Union has been supported by some politicians in both Israel and Europe [...] An opinion poll in 2004 showed that 85% of Israelis would support an application for membership.[139]
Ignoring contentious thread titles, that you describe consentual sex as 'sexual assault' & 'a crime' follows the pattern of just about everything that's wrong with Israel. If Israel were to be part of the EU, Israelis would have full travel and working rights throughout the EU. The idea that a country that violates so many international laws on human rights could enjoy such a partnership is laughable. The court case is just another example of Israeli state-sanctioned racism. If I'm throwing my (tax) money into the communal European pot, I don't want to be funding that sh*t.
I also feel that I have a right to an opinion on that sh*t...
will try and tone down the 'cnuts' in future though.
But considering how fooked it all is, if Israel joining Europe forced them to get their act together, it wouldn't be such a bad thing.
l was not commenting on the title of the post.
l was commenting on your statement; "It seemed apropos given the fact that an entire Soulstrut thread had been started relating to a sexual assault in Israel." Emphasis added.
While the title was offensive, if the same thing had happened in Alabama, or Tennessee l wouldn't be surprised to see an equally offensive title.
sorry man; I have a law degree. so I see these things from a legal standpoint; I don't rely solely on my emotions. (Maybe that's "everything that's wrong" with lawyers?) An Israeli judge has ruled unlawful what occurred between these two people, and has done so on the basis of legal principles that exist in both of our countries. "Consensual" sex between an underage girl and an adult man is also a crime.
But let's not pretend this is about a rape charge. You've made it clear you think Israel is some sort of racist state (in contradistinction to all the other countries with which the EU deals presumably -- or maybe I missed all your posts on human rights abuses occurring elsewhere; if so, my apologies). I *sense* that you have a pretty twisted view of the reality that is Israel (which is common; see the topic of this post and my explanation for it above). But I don't *know* this for sure of course, and either way it's beside the point; we're all entitled to our own opinions.
But hey maybe the Bad News from the Netherlands thing was the wrong angle. Instead maybe I'll just start posting threads on random GOOD news from Israel. It won't be hard. So the next time the Israeli Supreme Court recognizes gay marriage http://israelstreams.com/?israelinsider.html?http://israelinsider.com/Articles1/Politics/9915.htm) or the Israeli foreign ministry sends humanitarian aid to a disaster-stricken country (http://www.thejc.com/news/israel-news/35625/israel-sends-humanitarian-aid-congo) or Israeli researchers make a breakthrough in the treatment of heart disease (http://www.israel21c.org/201002157692/health/a-revolution-in-heart-disease-diagnosis) or takes a lead on universal health care (http://www.israel21c.org/201004287892/health/learning-from-israel-about-healthcare) I'll devote a soulstrut post to that.
A post on any of these topics would be every bit as relevant to soulstrut as a rape-by-fraud conviction in Jerusalem.
Maybe studying international law would be a good start for somebody with an interest in defending Israel then.
I don't know if this legal principle exists in my country. I would hope that more responsibility is handed to the individual to determine the background of their prospective sexual partners. I agree that it may be morally questionable, but the fact that the sexual act was not being challenged as rape speaks for itself. It wasn't rape. A wedding may get annulled for less, but this wasn't a wedding. It was casual sex.
Let's try it another way. What if the Muslim guy was tricked by the Jewish woman, that she was a Muslim. According to the 'principles' of this case, she would be convicted of rape by deception.
Right. I guess it's academic though;
[Darth Vader] The understatement is strong with this one.[/Darth Vader]
Yeah, feel free to send me a PM when you've posted an article about how Israel has stopped treating Palestinians like shit, and respects international laws. Less abducting and imprisonment of foreign nationals, assassination with faked passports of foreign nationals, murder of foreign nationals in and outside of Israel, trading nuclear secrets, and probably more, with apartheid South Africa, trying to intimidate foreign media for reporting on this stuff, and turning around and playing the anti-semitic card as if that's the only fucking reason anybody gives a shit (maybe if they did less of that, people wouldn't feel that they need to point-out Israel's flaws to defend themselves. Just a thought).
I look forward to this. Really, I do, which is why I'd rather they joined the EU and started abiding by rules than... playing by their own.
this has become the favorite strawman of the Israel hater. manifest some uniquely Israel-oriented outrage, justify your anti-Israel obsession with some reference to universal principles or international law (never mind any other countries though), and then claim that Israel's defenders are playing the race card. well sorry dude but no one called you anti-semitic. totally uninformed maybe, but not an anti-semite (I'm sure some of your best friends are Jews).
and I'll refrain from going post-for-post with you using emotive jpegs because, you know, who wants to see a blown up Israeli kindergarten or a column of Iraqi Jewish refugees anyway? shit's unsettling -- and it's still morningtime anyways.
but I will post this sad/humorous, music-r Israel article:
Boney M asked to cut 'By the Rivers of Babylon' out of West Bank gig
Maizie Williams said the Palestinian concert organizers told her not to sing "By the Rivers of Babylon" during the band's first ever Ramallah gig. The song's chorus quotes from the Book of Psalms, referring to the exiled Jewish people's yearning to return to the land of Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/boney-m-asked-to-cut-by-the-rivers-of-babylon-out-of-west-bank-gig-1.303427
It's another 'loaded' piece, but given the subject matter...
and there's more reading on the 'apparent' history of this practice, here:
http://www.counterpunch.org/weir08282009.html
If Israel had simply said they'd investigate, then admitted it has taken place, and not played the victim... ah fuck it, I'll leave it there.
this article wraps up the psychology behind it:
http://www.peacewithrealism.org/headline/Israel_organ-harvesting_anti-Semitism.htm
[I can't vouch for the whole piece, nor the source, but it gives a good timeline of the events. It also explains how, given the history (Simon of Trent, etc.), accusing Israel of stealing organs resonates with Jews/Israel in a way that's a little different than, say, when the same charge is leveled at China (a state that incidentally actually does harvest organs as a matter of policy, and on a massive scale. I don't recall seeing a 6-week media bonanza relating to them, though)].
anyway, turned out to be a rogue doctor who was doing this to any body he could get his hands on (Jew and Palestinian alike). Of course, as is always the case, the original story ran on the front page of every newspaper across the world, while the retraction/clarification is always on page 12, 6 weeks later). The Swedish "journalist" should be proud; he got famous.
bored.