Dutch FM: Ties with Israel are like our bond with NATO
Uri Rosenthal, a son of Holocaust survivors and married to an Israeli, stresses that his Jewish background and Israeli link don't affect his decisions.
By Cnaan Liphshiz A hardened scientist specialized in analyzing and managing mega-crises, Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal has limited patience for questions about his Jewish background and Israeli wife.
"I’m not thinking 24/7 that I’m from a Jewish background," says Rosenthal, the 65-year-old son of Dutch Holocaust survivors, when asked about the significance he attaches to his background.
"I'm at ease with my Jewish background. I’m not religious at all already from a very young age, though my parents kept some mitzvot," he says. His parents fled Holland in 1942 to Switzerland, where he was born in July 1945. They returned that year. Growing up in the Hague, he became professor of government studies at the University of Leiden before his ministerial appointment in October for the ruling liberal party, the VVD.
Rosenthal, who lives in Rotterdam, has two children with his wife, Dinah - a native Israeli from Haifa who came to the Netherlands after they met, and married in 1973. He often visits Israel, where he has family in Haifa and Ashkelon. "Sometimes I come a few times a year, sometimes only once in two years."
By the fourth question about his Jewish affiliation, he comments that he hopes the interview – his first for an Israeli paper - will not be “all about family life.” A tall, broad-shouldered man with a calm, penetrative gaze, Rosenthal stresses his Jewish background and Israeli link do not affect his decisions.
Some have alleged otherwise. In June, television broadcaster Harry Mens theorized that Rosenthal - senate chairman of the center-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) - had formed a "kind of lobby" with two other prominent Jewish leaders from the opposition: then Amsterdam mayor Lodewijk Asscher of Labor, and the leftist party’s chairman, Job Cohen.
Mens described this “alliance” as a “kongsi” – originally a Chinese word describing informal councils of exiles. A few weeks earlier, De Telegraaf, the country’s most-read daily, ran a column alluding to a “secret coalition” being forged by the same three Jewish politicians.
“I can only use the word stupid,” Rosenthal says in describing the kongsi theory. “It was simply a stupid, uninformed and nonsensical message, but not a new one. The same conspiracy story regularly pops up in the U.S.”
According to the Center on Information and Documentation on Israel – a watchdog on anti-Semitism – attacks against Jews have increased last year by roughly 50 percent compared to 2008. Rosenthal calls this trend “a genuine problem.” He added: “We have to address and solve this problem by ourselves. Perhaps up until now, the Amsterdam authorities have been lenient on it.”
Rosenthal says he believes in the Middle East policy of his predecessor, Maxime Verhagen, who now heads the Christian-Democrat party - VVD's coalition partner. Verhagen was seen as one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in Europe.
One of Rosenthal’s first statements regarding Israel as minister concerned the website The Electronic Intifada. Upon learning that the site – cofounded by a member of Dutch parliament – received support from a government-funded Christian humanitarian organization, Rosenthal said he will have “a hard talk” with the aid group, ICCO.
The Electronic Intifada acts as a news service to activists and members of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement - a loose international collection of people and institutions working to boycott Israel, which has been compared on the site to Nazi Germany. In 2010 the site has been found to have disseminated two false reports of boycotts of Israel by Dutch financial organizations.
“This site promotes policies which are totally at odds and diametrically opposite to the position of the Dutch government,” Rosenthal says. “Now, I don’t think all publically-funded organizations have a duty to adhere precisely to the position of the government, but there is a limit.”
Rosenthal compares calls to cut ties with Israel to demands to sever ties with NATO – a bond which according to researchers from the University of Twente has “determined a large part of Dutch foreign policy.” “It’s like government support for an organization saying we should totally sever our ties with NATO, while the Dutch government feels itself a strong supportive member state,” Rosenthal said.
The Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor has accused the Dutch embassy in Tel Aviv of having a pro-Palestinian agenda. This month Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who supports the coalition from outside the government, told Haaretz that Rosenthal should “look into the actions” of the Dutch embassy.
“I know that there are stories going around about a biased position on the part of the Dutch embassy - a pro-Palestine position,” Rosenthal said. “But I have no reason to accept that claim.”
Earlier this year, Haaretz reported the Dutch embassy has funded the organization Breaking the Silence – which encourages Israeli soldiers to publicize alleged human rights violations – to the tune of 19,995 euros. Any funding over 20,000 euros requires approval from the Hague.
Officials from the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) said the embassy had advised them in September to dis-invite a delegation of Israeli mayors scheduled to visit Holland, because some hailed from West Bank settlements. The Dutch embassy and the foreign ministry have denied its involvement, claiming the initiative came from VNG.
“Furthermore, I think settlements are an impediment to the peace process,” Rosenthal added. “I know people in Israel living in places where they have from time to time to go to the shelters in pajamas and who say to me that they’d rather get rid themselves of the settlements. At the same time I’m very keen on countering the tendency to delegitimize Israel. I don’t like Israel-bashing.”
In the early 1990s, Rosenthal – an expert on terrorism – said left-wing extremism was more dangerous to the rule of law than right-wing extremism. But 15 years later, it appears the extreme right has gained much more prominence and even power in Europe compared to the extreme left.
“I made that remark in the context of a series of clashes between left wing and right wing radicals in the Netherlands,” Rosenthal says. “In those days attention went nearly exclusively to the radical right wing. The left wing activists were nearly not addressed. I made that statement to get some balance. And I think I was right to do so.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/dutch-fm-ties-with-israel-are-like-our-bond-with-nato-1.331155
"I’m not thinking 24/7 that I’m from a Jewish background," says Rosenthal, the 65-year-old son of Dutch Holocaust survivors, when asked about the significance he attaches to his background.
Rosenthal, who lives in Rotterdam, has two children with his wife, Dinah - a native Israeli from Haifa who came to the Netherlands after they met, and married in 1973. He often visits Israel, where he has family in Haifa and Ashkelon. "Sometimes I come a few times a year, sometimes only once in two years."
 | Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal |
| Photo by: AP |
By the fourth question about his Jewish affiliation, he comments that he hopes the interview – his first for an Israeli paper - will not be “all about family life.” A tall, broad-shouldered man with a calm, penetrative gaze, Rosenthal stresses his Jewish background and Israeli link do not affect his decisions.
Some have alleged otherwise. In June, television broadcaster Harry Mens theorized that Rosenthal - senate chairman of the center-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) - had formed a "kind of lobby" with two other prominent Jewish leaders from the opposition: then Amsterdam mayor Lodewijk Asscher of Labor, and the leftist party’s chairman, Job Cohen.
Mens described this “alliance” as a “kongsi” – originally a Chinese word describing informal councils of exiles. A few weeks earlier, De Telegraaf, the country’s most-read daily, ran a column alluding to a “secret coalition” being forged by the same three Jewish politicians.
“I can only use the word stupid,” Rosenthal says in describing the kongsi theory. “It was simply a stupid, uninformed and nonsensical message, but not a new one. The same conspiracy story regularly pops up in the U.S.”
According to the Center on Information and Documentation on Israel – a watchdog on anti-Semitism – attacks against Jews have increased last year by roughly 50 percent compared to 2008. Rosenthal calls this trend “a genuine problem.” He added: “We have to address and solve this problem by ourselves. Perhaps up until now, the Amsterdam authorities have been lenient on it.”
Rosenthal says he believes in the Middle East policy of his predecessor, Maxime Verhagen, who now heads the Christian-Democrat party - VVD's coalition partner. Verhagen was seen as one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in Europe.
One of Rosenthal’s first statements regarding Israel as minister concerned the website The Electronic Intifada. Upon learning that the site – cofounded by a member of Dutch parliament – received support from a government-funded Christian humanitarian organization, Rosenthal said he will have “a hard talk” with the aid group, ICCO.
The Electronic Intifada acts as a news service to activists and members of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement - a loose international collection of people and institutions working to boycott Israel, which has been compared on the site to Nazi Germany. In 2010 the site has been found to have disseminated two false reports of boycotts of Israel by Dutch financial organizations.
“This site promotes policies which are totally at odds and diametrically opposite to the position of the Dutch government,” Rosenthal says. “Now, I don’t think all publically-funded organizations have a duty to adhere precisely to the position of the government, but there is a limit.”
Rosenthal compares calls to cut ties with Israel to demands to sever ties with NATO – a bond which according to researchers from the University of Twente has “determined a large part of Dutch foreign policy.” “It’s like government support for an organization saying we should totally sever our ties with NATO, while the Dutch government feels itself a strong supportive member state,” Rosenthal said.
The Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor has accused the Dutch embassy in Tel Aviv of having a pro-Palestinian agenda. This month Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who supports the coalition from outside the government, told Haaretz that Rosenthal should “look into the actions” of the Dutch embassy.
“I know that there are stories going around about a biased position on the part of the Dutch embassy - a pro-Palestine position,” Rosenthal said. “But I have no reason to accept that claim.”
Earlier this year, Haaretz reported the Dutch embassy has funded the organization Breaking the Silence – which encourages Israeli soldiers to publicize alleged human rights violations – to the tune of 19,995 euros. Any funding over 20,000 euros requires approval from the Hague.
Officials from the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) said the embassy had advised them in September to dis-invite a delegation of Israeli mayors scheduled to visit Holland, because some hailed from West Bank settlements. The Dutch embassy and the foreign ministry have denied its involvement, claiming the initiative came from VNG.
“Furthermore, I think settlements are an impediment to the peace process,” Rosenthal added. “I know people in Israel living in places where they have from time to time to go to the shelters in pajamas and who say to me that they’d rather get rid themselves of the settlements. At the same time I’m very keen on countering the tendency to delegitimize Israel. I don’t like Israel-bashing.”
In the early 1990s, Rosenthal – an expert on terrorism – said left-wing extremism was more dangerous to the rule of law than right-wing extremism. But 15 years later, it appears the extreme right has gained much more prominence and even power in Europe compared to the extreme left.
“I made that remark in the context of a series of clashes between left wing and right wing radicals in the Netherlands,” Rosenthal says. “In those days attention went nearly exclusively to the radical right wing. The left wing activists were nearly not addressed. I made that statement to get some balance. And I think I was right to do so.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/dutch-fm-ties-with-israel-are-like-our-bond-with-nato-1.331155
3 opmerkingen:
"bond"
Mensen spreken wel vaken over "ons bondgenootschap met Israël", vooral wanneer we israël weer moeten blijven steunen wanneer het misdaden begaat. Maar wij hebben, afgezien van economisch verkeer, helemaal geen bondgenootschap met Israël.
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bondgenootschap
"Een alliantie of een bondgenootschap is een verdrag tussen staten, zakenpartners of individuen, omwille van een gemeenschappelijk voordeel."
"The Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor has accused the Dutch embassy in Tel Aviv of having a pro-Palestinian agenda". Accused (beschuldigd) van pro-Palestijns zijn? Is dat al een misdaad? En wat zegt Rosenthal? Niks, geen stelling, geen afkeuring, geen weerwoord.
Een beetje voorlichter streept dit soort bruin smeersel door bij het goedkeuren van een artikel.
eGast
Die 19,995 euro's vind ik nog steeds geweldig.
anzi
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