RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12614/netherlands-burqa-ban

“People’s faces should not be hidden in society, for it is our faces that give us our identity and our fundamental means of communication with others.” — Geert Wilders, Party for Freedom (PVV).

Dutch Interior Minister Kajsa Ollongren said the new law represents “a fair balance” between “the freedom to dress as one wishes” and “the general interest of communication and security.” She also said that far from violating fundamental rights, the ban will enable Muslim women “to have access to a wider social life” because if they do not cover the face “they will have more possibilities for contact, communication and opportunities to enter the job market.”

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) twice has ruled that burqa bans are legal, making it unlikely that the Dutch ban could be overturned in court.

The Dutch Senate has approved a law that bans the wearing of “face-covering clothing” in public buildings, including hospitals, schools and government offices, as well as on public transportation.

Although the ban does not extend to public streets, the law authorizes police to ask individuals to remove face-covering clothing to establish their identity.

Those found flouting the ban — which includes Islamic veils and robes such as burqas (which cover the entire face) and niqabs (which cover the entire face except for the eyes), as well as balaclavas and full-face helmets — will be subject to a fine of 410 euros ($475).

The new law, previously adopted by the Dutch House of Representatives in November 2016, was approved on June 26 by 44 to 31 votes in the 75-seat Senate.

In a statement, the government, which has not yet said when the law will enter into effect, explained its purpose:

“In a free country like the Netherlands, everyone has the freedom and space to behave and dress as he or she desires. Sometimes, limits can and must be imposed on that freedom. In the case of face-covering clothing, this applies in particular if mutual communication is impeded or safety is jeopardized.

“Mutual communication whereby people can look each other in the face is so important that uniform rules have now been laid down by law. This makes it clear to everyone what is and is not allowed in those situations.”

A Muslim activist group called “Stay away from my Niqab!” said the ban is unconstitutional. In an open letter sent to Dutch lawmakers, the group, which has more than 5,000 followers on Facebook, asked:

“Why is it not realized that this law leads to people being isolated from society? This ban leads to women who wear face-covering clothing, who like to participate in society, no longer to be able to do this effectively because they now have a restriction on education, license applications, travel with public transport, visiting a doctor and much more….

“Is the constitution no longer applicable to women with face-covering clothing? What about the right that everyone is free to dress how he/she wants, regardless of race, gender, religion or belief?

“What about Article 6 of the Constitution which sets out freedom of religion and belief? Is there a problem in which everyone does not have the right freely to confess their religion or belief, individually or in community with others?”

The group’s spokeswoman, Karima Rahmani, added:

“We feel that we are being wronged with a repressive measure, which is why we trying to make our voices heard. It is getting harder and harder to be on the street with a niqab. I myself have been threatened with death, and other women have even been physically attacked.

http://www.settimananews.it/italia-europa-mondo/migranti-francia-la-ue/

It is France—not Germany, Italy, or any other country on the old continent—that can decide today what will happen to the young but already troubled European Union. The EU is under siege.

There is a medium-term threat to the EU which is about the future of the single currency, endangered on a thousand fronts. Even though it is not in the eurozone, with the Brexit, Britain will shake the single market and the single currency; Italy poses the problem of reforming the economic and financial institutions of the EU; Germany and its northern partners are pulled by isolationist drives.

But these are medium-term issues, which will come to the fore next year after the Brexit becomes official and the elections of the European Parliament in 2019. In the short term, it is the urgent issue of migration that is breaking the continent asunder, and here perhaps it is France that has many of the solutions. And the vote on Brexit was about migrants not about the single market or the single currency.

The wave of migration from Africa arrives in Europe mainly via Libya, but also from Morocco and Algeria. In the last two countries, there is still a strong French influence, and in Libya France and Italy compete over influence.

From here, the northern shores of Africa, the migrants make the last leap, the least dangerous one, crossing the Mediterranean to land in Malta, Italy, Spain, or Portugal, and from there they may move further north. However, the migrants have already made most the dangerous and difficult jump, through a path of death and slavery in the Sahara desert. It is in Mali, Niger, and Chad that the black African migrants converge. These countries are historically under French influence, and even though recently a new Italian presence has arrived, it has not undermined the French one.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12606/tehran-lobbyists

The pro-Khomeinist chorus builds its case on an abstract notion in which, in dealing with the Islamic Republic, the choice is only between surrendering to its every whim or total military invasion.

The same lobbyists discourage any attempt by the major powers to adopt a policy aimed at helping, persuading and cajoling Iran into restoring its identity as a nation-state and behave like one by closing the chapter of a revolution that has plunged Iran and a good chunk of the Middle east into conflict and uncertainty.

As the clock ticks towards 8th of August, the deadline fixed by US President Donald Trump to unveil the next stage of his policy towards Iran, a choir of Western politicians, academics and businessmen is formed to urge him to stick to the policies of his predecessors since 1979. That, in turn, has encouraged elements in the Tehran leadership to argue against any change of policy and/or behavior by the Islamic Republic on a range of issues, as spelled out in US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s 12-point statement, including the attempt to “export” revolution to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen among others.

Last Tuesday Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif replied to Pompeo with a 15-point desiderata of his own, indicating Tehran’s choice of a delaying tactic.

The pro-Khomeinist chorus builds its case on an abstract notion in which, in dealing with the Islamic Republic, the choice is only between surrendering to its every whim or total military invasion.

In her latest book “Fascism: A Warning” former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright reduces policy in Iran to a simple question: “Do we want to repeat the adventure in Iraq?”

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270580/western-europes-disconnect-islamic-antisemitism-ari-lieberman

This past week, a Swedish court found two “Palestinians” and a Syrian guilty of attempting to set fire to Sweden’s second largest synagogue through use of petrol bombs. The terrorist attack occurred on December 9, 2017 in the city of Gothenburg, and though no one was hurt, some 20 people present in the synagogue at the time of the attack were briefly forced to seek shelter in the synagogue’s cellar.

Two of the perpetrators received two years in prison for their respective roles in the hate crime while a third was sentenced to one year and three months. The punishment meted out by the court represents a travesty of justice and is nothing short of farcical. In the United States, a similar crime would have resulted in far greater punishment.

Under the New York Penal Law for example, this form of arson would have generated a term of between 5 to 25 years. In other words, had these criminals committed the crime in New York, their minimum sentence would have been more than double than what was handed down by the Swedish court. The meek and utterly pathetic Swedish sentence demonstrates a persistent unwillingness on the part of Sweden’s political and judicial echelons to address the growing problem of anti-Semitic hate crimes committed by Sweden’s migrant population.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12567/european-terrorism-batman-syndrome

“It is the ‘Batman syndrome’: the hero refuses to kill, he systematically saves his enemy who escapes and kills new victims until the hero catches up with him, and so on”. — Causeur magazine.

“These crimes will continue so long as the Republic leaves the enemy in peace”. — Ivan Riofoul, Le Figaro.

In the end, there might be still a region called “Europe”, but it may no longer enfold European culture.

The European Union lost €180 billion (USD $210 billion) in GDP due to terrorism between 2004 and 2016. The United Kingdom (€43.7 billion) and France (€43 billion) suffered the highest losses, followed by Spain (€40.8 billion) and Germany (€19.2 billion), according to a Rand Corporation study.

“Beyond those who have been directly physically affected by terrorist attacks, the extensive coverage of terrorist attacks through multiple media and social media channels has substantially increased the amount of people and companies that could be psychologically affected. This subsequently affects their economic behaviour”.

New statistics have also come from the Britain’s anti-terrorism office. 441 people have been arrested in the UK for terrorism in the last year alone, and 4,182 since the attacks of September 11, 2001. The threat of terrorism is exhausting Europe.

According to the Spanish “black book” of terrorism, 658 Europeans have been murdered in terror attacks on European soil, while 1,029 Europeans have been killed by them abroad. Half of the French army has been deployed within the French Republic to protect the civilian targets, such as schools, monuments, and religious sites. Europe’s armies are exhausted from patrolling the streets, to the point that NATO planners now fear that, over time, European armies “may get better at guarding railway stations and airports than fighting wars”. An officer who recently returned from Afghanistan for guard duty in Belgium said: “We are standing around like flowers pots, just waiting to be smashed”. Germany also sent troops into the streets for the first time since the Second World War.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12590/yazidis-need-help

There are two types of aid urgently needed by Yazidis at Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in northern Iraq, according to Saad Babir, media director of Yazda: psychological support for the victims of genocide, and basic services such as healthcare, food, water, electricity, heat, new tents — and even firetrucks and ambulances. Many Yazidis have died in IDP camps due to a lack of the latter two.

“When I was in the camps, I noticed that when UN officials came in to do an assessment, the Yazidi people were not able to tell them the truth about what was happening for fear of retaliation from the country’s leaders.” — Dawood Saleh, Yazidi author and activist.

“We wrote many reports to the UN, for it to consider Yazidis in the camps refugees, due to their dangerous situation, but our pleas were rejected. The UN has not reported on the situation accurately and sufficiently to enable Western countries to help Yazidis more.” — Dawood Saleh.

On June 13, Mark Green, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), finally offered some good news for the persecuted Christians and Yazidis in Iraq. In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal entitled: “Help Is on the Way for Middle Eastern Christians,” he wrote:

“Every day of delay brings persecuted communities that much closer to extinction. In Iraq alone, nearly 90% of Christians have fled in the past 15 years, emptying entire villages that had stood for more than a thousand years. The Yazidi population has been similarly decimated. Without immediate additional support, these groups may be forced to continue their unprecedented exodus, perhaps never to return to their ancient homes.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270563/my-attendance-rally-palestine-hugh-fitzgerald

I recently attended a Rally for Palestine in the main square of a medium-sized French city close to Marseille. There were flags aflutter of the State of Palestine, two booths full of anti-Zionist propaganda, French middle-aged leftists, committed to the cause, concolorous in their political views with their American cousins of circa 1970, all granola and granny glasses. There were pamphlets of testimonies by “Palestinians” describing the unbelievable behavior of the Zionists, when they started the 1948 war, and then the 1956 Sinai war, and then the 1967 war, and the 1973 war, and several wars made on the peaceful citizens of Gaza — all entirely unprovoked attacks by the monstrous Israelis. There were flags of Palestine for sale. There were photographs of Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas. There was something — I couldn’t make out the title — by Noam Chomsky. But what attracted my attention the most were the four outline maps of “Palestine” that were spread out on the ground, depicting an ever-expanding seizure of Arab land by the Zionist “settlers.”

The first map of “Palestine” showed it in 1946 as almost entirely Arab, with a handful of diminutive Jewish islands in an Arab sea.

The other three maps told a tale of inexorable Zionist expansion. The second map showed Palestine according to the U.N. Partition Plan of 1947. Palestine is still overwhelmingly Arab, but with a little more land area — still discontinuous bits — than in the 1946 map, assigned to the Jews. Then a map showing Israel just before, and then just after, the Six-Day War. No discussion of what caused the Six-Day War. No display of the Sinai as part of the territory Israel won in that war, or mention of how it was given back to Egypt by the Israelis.