Centrum Informatie en Documentatie Israël


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Persbericht
Den Haag, 10 januari 2003

CIDI wil van Wim Duisenberg opheldering over zijn steun aan Gretta

CIDI heeft aan de directeur van de Europese Centrale Bank, Wim Duisenberg, opheldering gevraagd over zijn brief van 8 januari aan minister van Buitenlandse Zaken, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Daarin zegt Duisenberg voor honderd procent achter zijn vrouw Gretta te staan.

In een vandaag verstuurde brief aan de president van de Europese Centrale Bank, met afschriften aan de voorzitter van de Europese Commissie Prodi, het Griekse EU-voorzitterschap en minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer gaat CIDI-directeur Naftaniel in op negen aanstootgevende uitspraken van Gretta Duisenberg over het Midden-Oosten conflict en Joden.

Deze uitspraken dragen niet bij aan het vredesproces in het Midden-Oosten, integendeel, zij hebben de polarisatie in Nederland over dit onderwerp vergroot en veroorzaken verdriet bij Nederlanders ongeacht hun politieke overtuiging en religie. Met name haar uitlating in het Algemeen Dagblad van vandaag, dat met uitzondering van de Holocaust de Israelische bezetting van de Palestijnse gebieden erger is dan de Nazi-bezetting van Nederland, is walgelijk, aldus Naftaniel in zijn brief.

Hij wil dat Wim Duisenberg nu eindelijk eens duidelijk maakt waar hij precies staat. Ik geloof dat u als president van de Europese Centrale Bank niet behoort deel te nemen aan enig politiek debat, zoals u ook zelf suggereerde in uw brief aan minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer van 8 januari. De kracht van de ECB ligt in het feit, dat deze onafhankelijk opereert van welke politieke discussie dan ook. Als we echter uw uitspraak in uw brief dat u voor honderd procent achter uw echtgenote staat letterlijk nemen, dan moeten wij concluderen dat u instemt met de door ons weergegeven aanstootgevende uitspraken van uw vrouw. Het kan echter zijn dat u standpunten heeft die toch afwijken van die van uw echtgenote en dat is de reden waarom wij zeer geïnteresseerd zijn in uw stellingname over deze kwestie.

Het CIDI verzoekt Wim Duisenberg spoedig te antwoorden. Dat zou alsnog misverstanden kunnen wegnemen. Het door Wim Duisenberg blijven steunen van de politieke uitgangspunten van zijn vrouw is volgens CIDI thans onmogelijk geworden en onverenigbaar met zijn functie van ECB-president.

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European Central Bank
Mr. W.F. Duisenberg, president
Kaiserstrasse 29
D-60311 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

The Hague, 10 January 2003

Dear Mr. Duisenberg,

I am writing to you greatly concerned about recent activities of your wife, Gretta, as well as yourself. In an email message to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you wrote, I stand one hundred percent behind her.

In her duty as chairwoman of the committee, Stop the Occupation, Mrs. Duisenberg has made several disturbing comments concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the last few months. Those statements have not served the cause of a peaceful process in the Middle East, but rather have heightened polarization in the Netherlands on this topic, causing pain to Dutch men and women irregardless of their political views and religious beliefs. Especially her latest statement (Algemeen Dagblad, 10 januari) with exception of the Holocaust the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is worse than the Nazi-occupation of the Netherland is disgusting.

Some of Mrs. Duisenbergs other more inflammatory comments have included:

I may not say it, but I do understand it. I mean: if you do not have hope, no hope in your life, and no perspective, if you yet think that your father is dead, or your father is humbled so much. What does a boy think? I am going to save the honour of the family, or I do it else, because my life does not have value anymore. I think that a lot of Jewish people from the Netherlands should take a look here. That would open their eyes. And not see me as an Anti-Semite. Because that is not what it is all about. It is about these people. I think it is terrible.
Dutch national television (NOS) news, 7 January 2003: on Palestinian terrorism during a visit to the Gaza Strip

When I came down after a half an hour, CNN was showing footage of a terrible suicide attack in Tel Aviv, in which twenty people were killed. It is terrible and absolutely rejectable. Again, it became clear to me that there is only one solution for a breakthrough of the current spiral of violence: Israel has to withdraw immediately from the occupied areas and to dismantle the settlements. There cannot be peace as long as the Palestinian people are suffering so severely due to repression by the Israeli government. The Palestinians are a people and they have to be seen like that by Israel. Because Israel is the aggressor and it needs to make the first step on the way to a new peace-process. Zeeuwse Courant, 6 January 2003

Every time there is a break in the violence, Sharon creates a provocation () The Israeli government is killing innocent Palestinians and is taking their land. The Prime Minister is treating every Palestinian like a terrorist and he is destroying their homesWhen the occupation ends and Israel stops pressuring the Palestinians, the terror will stop.
Haaretz, (Israel) 6 January 2003

I feel already involved with the conflict in the Middle East for a very long time, with the injustice that is being done to the Palestinians. When my daughter went to high school, she had a couple of Jewish friends who were frequently visiting our house. With her boyfriend, also Jewish, I often had fierce discussions. Then my children said: Oh, there is mom again with her hobbyhorse. Sometimes I got into a fight with one of those boys and then my daughter got angry; she was of the opinion that I was destroying the atmosphere....
Question: those Jewish friends were having difficulties with your criticism?
As soon as I said something critical about the Israeli government they felt personally attacked. That was not open for discussion. Sometimes they even walked out angry. The over-sensitiveness was deeply rooted with those children; probably they got that from their parents...
Question: Why should Jews know better?
If you have experienced a lot of violence, then you should know that it does not lead anywhere. Jews could have learned from their war experiences. If my child would be murdered, my first reaction would be: I kill the perpetrator. But afterwards I realizeed that that would not bring me anything. After all, there are also people that love him. The Jews want a state of their own because they have been suppressed. If they cannot get it in this way, then it has to be in that way. Should people be slaughtered for it, then so be it. Unscrupulous. They are blind, they dont see anything anymore Question: has your image of the Jews changed? Yes, I honestly have to admit that, in the beginningafter the first threatening lettersI said to Wim I have to be careful that I will not become an anti-Semite. I was so angry. And they are very close to each other, anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. Vrij Nederland, 21 December 2002

Question: How many signatures are you hoping for (to sign her Stop the Occupation petition)?
Answer: (She waits and thinks): Ehmmm, Let me look ehmmm six million. Ha, ha, ha, ha (she laughs).
Dutch national radio, 28 September 2002

When she just got married, she said: I dont really like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but if Wim has to go to Washington, I will go and I will behave. Only when Reagan gives his opening speech, I wont come. I hate that man() There is a powerful Jewish lobby, a pro-Israel lobby that houses a lot of fundamentalist Christians. They are strongly represented in the American government. There is the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, Jewish Congress. All those organizations have as their main target to promote the settlement of Jews in Israel. They get money for that. And then there is also the American Israel Public Affairs Community (AIPAC). They have an enormously high level of influence. They are sitting as state secretaries or higher in the government of Bush. Try to imagine that Ronny Naftaniel would be a state secretary with us?
Trouw, 28 September 2002

I didnt say rich Jews. I said, the rich Jewish lobby in the US continues the oppression of the Palestinians, and this is a sad truth. Horrible because the Palestinians are abandoned, but the enormous Jewish lobby of the US stays obsessed with supporting Israel. All presidents who want to be elected or re-elected have to do what the lobby wants.
The Volkskrant, 29 May 2002

America doesnt do anything against the Israeli politics of oppression. In America there are 5.5 million Jews and when a president wants to be elected he seeks the support of the rich Jewish lobby.
The Parool, 28 May 2002

These statements by your wife are disturbing and highly controversial. They are, as the District Attorney of Amsterdam says: Poisoning the atmosphere in which the debate should take place.

I believe that as the president of the European Central Bank, you should not engage in any political debate, as you yourself have suggested in your letter of 8 January 2003 to Secretary of State Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The power of the European Central Bank lies in the fact that it is independent of any political discussion.

If we are to accept your previously quoted statement in support of your wife, we shall conclude that you also concur with her above-mentioned comments. However, you may well have views that differ from your wife and that is why The Center for Information and Documentation Israel is very interested to understand your positions on this matter. Your prompt response will hopefully lead to clarifying the situation regarding your role and your duties as President of the European Central Bank.

Yours sincerely,

Ronny Naftaniel
Director Center Information and Documentation Israel

cc: Mr. J. de Hoop Scheffer, Dutch Secretary of State

cc: Mr. R. Prodi, chairman European Commission

cc: Mr. C. Simitis, Greece Prime-Minister and current EU-president
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toegevoegd: reactie dhr. Duisenberg:

Dear Mr. Naftaniel,

With reference to your Ietter of 10 January regarding the activities of my wife, I should simply like to state that if a husband and wife fully support each other they do not necessarily go through life together without criticising each other from time to timle.

My statement at the TV programme "Buitenhof', made on 29 December 2002, as weIl as the contents of my letter to Mr. J. de Hoop Scheffer of 8 January 2003 should be seen in this sense. As far as my position as President of the European Central Bank is concerned, to which y ou make reference in your letter, I should like to refer to what I stated at the European Parliament on 8 October 2002 regarding certain actions taken in my immediate personal environment: "Both the Bank and its President refrain from cornmenting. They both remain convinced that these developments in my personal environment, whatever I may think of it, have nothing to do with my position, or the position of the European Central Bank."

I assure you that this statement of mine continues to be valid.
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(c)CIDI, 2003