Will the EU Delegate to the Global Anti-Semitism Forum Tell the Truth?
Will the EU Delegate to the Global Anti-Semitism Forum Tell the Truth?

The fifth Global Forum on Combating Anti-Semitism will begin on May 12th in Jerusalem. The Israeli government ministries who have organized the event have invited the First Vice President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans – a Dutchman – to speak at its opening session.

In view of the discriminatory attitudes Timmermans, the Dutch Labor party he belongs to and the EU hold toward Israel, I suggest that he includes the following in his lecture, in order to clear things up.

“I am very glad to have been invited to this Global Forum. It is a unique occasion to finally confess and declare the truth about European discrimination against Israel and about European anti-Semitism. I would also like to mention the indirect support my own party, the Dutch Labor Party, gives to the Islamo-Nazis of Hamas, and apologize for my prejudice regarding Israel.   

“Europe has a horrible, murderous past concerning the Jewish people, which goes back many centuries. I recently mentioned that on Dutch television. It boils down to the fact that anti-Semitism is part of Europe’s history as well as part of its culture.[1] After the Second World War, many naïve people thought that Europe had learned its lesson from the Holocaust. They were fools.  

“Various studies show that more than 40% of Europeans believe that Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians.[2] If so many Europeans have such extreme and hateful opinions about Israel, it means that a large part of the EU has a criminal mindset. When I speak here today, I represent the EU, and thus I also represent the EU’s many repulsive anti-Semites. In other words, I also speak here on behalf of at least 150 million Europeans, aged over 16 years, who hold criminal and anti-Semitic views, this time against Israel. This is so scandalous that it is hard to believe. I wonder how much the European Union, the politicians of our member countries, many media, trade unions, NGOs, churches and so on have contributed to the development of this criminal stereotyping.

“I have always prided myself in being more intelligent than most politicians. I am a suave diplomat and speak many languages. In order to maintain this image, I have often managed to manipulate the truth in such a manner that my motives aren’t too transparent.

“That is why I admitted, during a recent interview, what many European politicians, who are not as smart, continue to deny. I said that behind anti-Zionism there is often anti-Semitism.[3] I spoke also about Greek racism and mentioned that it comes from the extreme right. People did not notice that I purposely neglected to specify which part of the population generates a disproportionately large number of the worst anti-Semitic incidents in Europe. We all know who is responsible, but do not want to say it loudly: parts of the Muslim communities. The EU countries let in a vast number of immigrants without implementing much of a screening process, even though we knew that many came from the most anti-Semitic countries in the world.[4]

“When I became an EU commissioner, I came across a letter from Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. He had written to the President of the European Parliament, Mr. Martin Schulz, about Europe’s anti-Israelism.[5] The latter’s answer did not suggest any concrete actions and contained nothing but rhetoric.[6] Mrs. Nina Rosenwald, president of The Gatestone Institute, wrote on the same subject to the previous president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.[7] The official who answered on his behalf the letter avoided addressing the issue, as well.[8]

“Foreign ministers of eighteen EU countries want to label goods as originating from the 'West Bank' to distinguish them from products originating within pre-1967 Israel. Among them is my successor as Dutch foreign minister, Bert Koenders, who is also a member of the Labor Party.[9] The EU also says that it is forbidden for the EU to invest in occupied territories. We have never seriously debated with Israel why the 'West Bank' is considered to be occupied, rather than disputed territory. One thing is sure, however: the EU invests in Turkish northern Cyprus, which is certainly occupied territory.[10]

“That brings me to the notion of double standards, a manipulation which has been at the heart of anti-Semitism for centuries.[11] In December 2013, I spoke at the University of Tel Aviv about Israeli-European relations. It is a touchy subject to handle, if you choose to speak truthfully about it. I thus preferred to speak at length about the grave of a Jewish soldier, lying in a military cemetery in the Netherlands, which my family has chosen to adopt. According to the European definition of anti-Semitism, double standards are considered anti-Semitic. Therefore, we have now removed the European definition of anti-Semitism from our websites.
I also spoke for quite some time about Jews who had been hidden during the war in a house my family has acquired.[12] It had nothing to do with Israeli-European relations, yet as long you focus sympathetically on dead Jews, you cannot go wrong with a Jewish audience.

“It would have been stupid to deny that Europe applies double standards with regard to Israel. According to the European definition of anti-Semitism, double standards are considered anti-Semitic. Therefore, we have now removed the European definition of anti-Semitism from our websites.[13] We cannot afford to be anti-Semites as per our own definition.

“I admitted in that speech at Tel Aviv University that Europe does apply double standards against Israel. I tried to explain it away by claiming that we see Israelis as being like Europeans, and thus expect more from them than we do from the Palestinians and other Arabs. Them we don’t rate according to European standards. It might not have been the smartest thing to do, because afterwards people mentioned that I had spoken like the old colonialist racists, who claimed European superiority over other peoples. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights however, says that all people are endowed with reason and conscience.[14] That means that they are equally responsible for their actions. Europe doesn’t believe this applies to the Palestinians, which is why we whitewash their criminality and genocidal intentions.  I thus have to admit that my statement in Tel Aviv about double standards had a racist element.

“The aforementioned must be seen against the background of the policies held by my party, the Dutch Labor party. Our party program mentions the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We omit mentioning Hamas, however, and the fact that the Palestinians have preferred, as evident in their sole democratic parliamentary elections, these Islamo-Nazis above all others.[15] Hamas wants to exterminate all Jews, as explicitly stated in its public charter, in order to please Allah.[16] If you remain silent about a contemporary type of Nazism and attack the Israelis, you are an indirect supporter of these Nazis. That is exactly what my party does. We all know that one of the reasons we do so is because we are interested in obtaining more Muslim votes.  Our party leader, Diederik Samsom, is a main inciter against Israel.[17]

“As far as my own statements are concerned, before I became Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, I criticized Israel when it expressed its desire to leave the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC). I knew very well that it is a zealously anti-Semitic body, with many extremely barbarian dictatorships as members. Instead of criticizing and attacking the UNHRC, I asked my predecessor, Minister Uri Rosenthal, to criticize Israel instead.[18]

“Having attempted to tell the truth today on a number of major issues, I hope we can now work together to try and repair what has been destroyed by Europeans, including my own party, for such a long time.”

To assist Mr. Timmermans in preparing his lecture, I have provided sources in the form of the footnotes below. With this text in their hands, the audience at the upcoming Global Forum will be able to determine whether or not Mr. Timmermans has decided to come clean.

Sources

[1] TV programma Buitenhof, Paul Witteman interviews Frans Timmermans, 15 March 2015. (Dutch)

[2] library.fes.de/pdf-files/do/07908-20110311.pdf.

[3] Buitenhof, Paul Witteman interviews Frans Timmermans, 15 March 2015. (Dutch)

[4] http://global100.adl.org.

[5] Letter from Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center to the President of the European Parliament, Mr. Martin Schulz, 18 February 2014.

[6] Answer from Mr. Martin Schulz to A. Cooper of the SWC, 3 April 2014.

[7] E-mail from Mrs. Nina Rosenwald to Mr. José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, 25 March 2014.

[8] Answer from the European Commission, Jean Claude Thebault, to Mrs. Nina Rosenwald, 16 April 2014.

[9] “Koenders zet etikettering weer op agenda”, Telegraaf, 20 November 2014. (Dutch)

[10] Eugene Kontorovich, “How the EU directly funds settlements in occupied territory”, Jerusalem Post, 28 September 2013.

[11] Manfred Gerstenfeld, Double Standards for Israel, Journal for the Study of Antisemitism, 7 January 2013.

[12] Speech Frans Timmermans, University Tel Aviv, Israël en de EU: Voorbij de horizon, December 2013.

[13] Sam Sokol, “Israel Urges EU Human Rights Body to Return ‘Anti-Semitism’ Definition to Website,” Jerusalem Post, 6 December 2013.

[15] Scott Wilson, “Hamas Sweeps Palestinian Elections, Complicating Peace Efforts in Mideast”, Washington Post, 27 January 2006.

[16] http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp

[17] Afsluitende speech Diederik Samsom – Midden-Oostendebat PvdA Nieuwe Buitensocieteit te Zwolle, 2 March 2013. (Dutch)

[18] Timmermans: Protest Rosenthal nodig tegen besluit Israël, Trouw, 26 March 2012. (Dutch)