ZGram - 7/2/2002 - "Does anybody know how the Dutch 'flag campaign' ended?"

irimland@zundelsite.org irimland@zundelsite.org
Tue, 2 Jul 2002 20:09:15 -0700


ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

July 2, 2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

I'm curious.  The Jewish Telegraph Agency (http://www.jta.org) of June 24, 2=
002
reported the following:

"Loonstein had told a journalist he would ask the World Jewish Congress to
investigate the possibility of declaring Wim Duisenberg persona non grata
in the United States."

In Netherlands, bank head's wife launches Palestinian flag campaign
By Elise Friedmann

AMSTERDAM, June 24 (JTA) "Palestinian flag sales are booming in the
Netherlands, as pro-Palestinian groups prepare for a "National Palestinian
=46lag Day."

The June 30 event is the latest development in a flag war that began on a
quiet, leafy Amsterdam street.

Gretta Duisenberg, wife of European Central Bank President Wim Duisenberg,
started the flagmania by hanging a Palestinian flag from her balcony for
about six weeks.

Duisenberg bought the flag on the Internet and first brandished it at a
pro-Palestinian demonstration in Amsterdam on April 13 that also featured
swastikas. She began hanging the flag from her balcony after the rally.

Because of a tree in front of the house, it was difficult to see the flag -
except to the van der Wiekens, a Jewish couple living diagonally opposite.

The wife, Rosa van der Wieken, is a member of the Amsterdam City Council.

After looking at Duisenberg's flag for about five weeks, the Van der Wieken
family asking her to remove it because some might consider the Palestinian
flag as representing terror.

In an ensuing phone call, Duisenberg told Van der Wieken it was "the rich
Jews" who enabled Israel to continue the "colonial oppression of the
Palestinian people," Ron van der Wieken said.

The Jewish couple went to the media, and the piece caught the eye of local
lawyer Herman Loonstein, chairman of a small group called Federative Jewish
Netherlands.

Loonstein filed a formal complaint with an Amsterdam city court, accusing
Duisenberg of anti-Semitism and incitement.

"Hanging out a flag is not against the law, but these statements are," he
said.

That very same day, Duisenberg's husband came home from the European Bank's
headquarters in Frankfurt, quietly removed his wife's flag from the balcony
and returned to Germany.

Meanwhile his wife called in to a popular Dutch talk show, claiming she
never said anything about rich Jews. She "merely" had said it was "the rich
Jewish lobby in America" that is perpetuating Israel's injustice against
the Palestinians, she claimed.

Loonstein had told a journalist he would ask the World Jewish Congress to
investigate the possibility of declaring Wim Duisenberg persona non grata
in the United States.

The WJC declined to get involved in the matter, but Duisenberg and the
Dutch media quickly interpreted Loonstein's remark to mean that a New
York-based Jewish group was threatening to ban Wim Duisenberg from the
United States.

Since then, the flag that flew at the Duisenbergs has been passed from
supporter to supporter and flown from houses and apartments throughout the
Netherlands.

The local Palestine Committee did brisk business selling flags to
sympathizers wanting to back Duisenberg. The group says it can hardly
handle the demand for flags as June 30 nears.

Support for the Palestinians, who generally are portrayed as oppressed by
Israel, is high in the Netherlands, as it is throughout Europe.

Support has grown since April, when European media trumpeted Palestinian
accusations that Israel carried out a "massacre" of civilians in the Jenin
refugee camp.

A sprinkling of Israeli flags appeared in response. Most quickly came down
after the owners had their windows smashed with stones or insults hurled at
them from the street.

Meanwhile, the complaint against Duisenberg has largely been forgotten.
Most expect it to be dismissed.

The Jewish community generally blames the media hype of the incident on
Loonstein's decision to go to court.

The community by and large is choosing to ignore the flagmania, for fear
that overreacting will increase the real anti-Semitism surfacing in the
Netherlands in recent months.

"Using an anti-Semitic cliche doesn't necessarily make one an anti-Semite,"
said Harry van der Bergh, a member of the Netherlands=92 Central Jewish
Organization.

"Ms. Duisenberg's flag action was an example of ordinary stupidity," he
said, "and I would have greatly preferred it if Jewish reactions had shown
more tactical sense."