Danish Government calls for dialogue on freedom of expression and freedom of religion

Date: 06 / 03 / 2008 Time: 11:21
Bethlehem – Ma'an –

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Dr. Per Stig Moeller, said that that the Danish Government condemns "any action that attempts to demonize people on the basis of their religion or their ethnic background" in a speech at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday.

Moeller's speech, which was received enthusiastically by the International Human Rights Council, responded to the widespread outrage at the reprinting of the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, which many have considered offensive and anti-Islam.

The minister acknowledged that "it is clear that many Muslims have felt their religion offended," adding that "We expect all religions to respect each other. And we respect Islam as one of the world's major religions as well as their religious symbols, as we respect all religious creeds and communities."

Moeller also called for dialogue "on freedom of expression and freedom of religion," saying that "Dialogue, collaboration and cultural understanding - not an endless spiral of misunderstandings and further polarization" is the way forward. He affirmed that "the Danish Government takes the concerns voiced by large numbers of Muslims very seriously," and he praised those offended by the cartoons who have "exercised their democratic rights and expressed their anger in most instances by peaceful means."

The minister concluded his call for dialogue by saying, "Let us discuss how to overcome prejudice, how to overcome misconceptions, how to overcome misperceptions and polarization. In the community of man there are differences between cultures. We shall see these differences as an asset, not as an offence, and will learn to live with and respect these differences."

Freedom of Expression: The Danish Rotten Hypocrisy

News Commentary By Hassan El-Najjar

ccun.org, March 6, 2008

Danish Rotten Hypocrisy: Attacking Islam Is Freedom of Expression But Criticizing Israel and Zionist Lies is a Taboo

What's disgusting about the Danish government position towards reprinting the offensive, anti-Islamic cartoons is that it defended the degenerative act as freedom of expression. However, neither the Danish government nor those it defends never dared to criticize the Zionist Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people.

When it comes to Israel and Zionism, the Danes, like most Europeans, become deaf mute slaves. European intellectuals have been tried and sentenced to time in prison for mere questioning the holocaust industry!

Do the Danish cartoonists, journalists, and politicians dare. for example, to criticize the Zionist rabbis who justify killing Palestinian civilians (read below)? Let's see if they do.

It's a common knowledge now that the Danes have been used as a bait to justify and intensify the NATO oil wars. The cheap Danish role has been designed to provoke Muslim protests, then the Zionist-controlled corporate media in the NATO countries use Muslim reactions to justify the NATO invasions and occupation of Muslim countries.

It's also a common knowledge that cartoons were sought for and published by a Zionist editor-in-chief, in order to provoke Muslim violent reactions. This would distract people around the world from the horrors of the Zionist Israeli occupation of Palestine and the Zionist-led NATO wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thank God that Muslims have understood the game and have not reacted to the insult like before. They have been organizing quietly worldwide to boycott Danish products, as the most effective way to deal with the issue.

Something is rotten, stinking, and disgusting in Denmark!

-----------------------------

Zionist rabbis, headed by Dov Lior, say Torah permits killing Palestinian civilians

[ 06/03/2008 - 02:01 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

The association of rabbis for the people and land of Israel headed by extremist rabbi Dov Lior issued on Wednesday a religious ruling legitimizing the shelling of Palestinian civilian gatherings by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at the pretext of responding to the rocket attacks carried out by Palestinian fighters.

According to this ruling, the Torah permits the shelling and bombing of Palestinian rocket sources even if there are civilians living there and considers that the Israeli army must sometimes respond to the source of fire immediately without giving any advance warning to the Palestinian civilians.

This ruling also says that if the Palestinian civilians are concerned about their lives, they should stop the Palestinian resistance fighters from firing rockets on Israeli settlements.

In another serious development, the Israeli TV channel 2 revealed on Wednesday that the IOF troops are planning to implement a mass transfer operation against thousands of Palestinian citizens living near the security fence area between Gaza and the Palestinian lands occupied in 1948 as a prelude to bombing it indiscriminately.

Channel two reported that Israeli war minister Ehud Barak tabled to the Israel mini-cabinet a plan to deport thousands of Palestinians from several areas at the pretext that rocket attacks are carried out from them in preparation to destroy entire Palestinian neighborhoods.

In another development, head of the national religious party (Mifdal) Effie Eitam called at the Knesset's rostrum for deporting the Palestinian citizens who went on protests on Tuesday in the Umm Al-Fahm city to condemn the Israeli aggression on Gaza.

Eitam described the protesters as traitors and threatened the Arab MPs saying: "One day we will expel you from this place along with everyone demonstrated against Israel."

For his part, Arab MP Jamal Zahalqa responded during the session to Eitam saying: "You are a racist, fascist and fanatic," so the Knesset speaker asked Zahalqa to leave the session immediately.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.