Atlas Shrugs: Proving a Narcissist’s Negative

With all the discussion arising from the recently revived controversy over Vlaams Belang, Pamela at Atlas Shrugs has done the sensible thing. Rather than post yet another burst of invective (as did — ahem — yours truly), she located the phone numbers of some prominent Jewish residents of Antwerp and gave them a call.

One of the more interesting facts to emerge from her conversations is that Filip Dewinter loses more votes than he gains due to his support of Flemish Jews.


Huh.

Some Nazi he turns out to be.

Here are some excerpts from Pamela’s report :

I have spent the better part of the afternoon talking with various Jewish members of the clergy, academia and the Jewish community in Antwerp. Respected voices.

First off, no one person speaks for the Jews of Belgium. Period. Two Jews, three opinions.

One thing is clear, Vlaams Belang is the only party that has gone out of its way to support Israel. No political party in Belgium has supported Israel. Vlaams Belang has been the only party staunchly behind Israel for the past 10 years.

“In the last few years, the Liberal Party has taken into its midst some extremist elements who support Hezbollah and Hamas, while Dewinter is very charming and has been interviewed in Jewish newspapers and he meets with rabbis,” he said. “A lot of Jews are not following the establishment and will vote for him.” said Henri Rosenberg, a chasid and law professor at Catholic University in Holland.

Rosenberg cited instances in which members of parliament from the Liberal Party flew to Syria and “shook hands with [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah and then traveled to Palestine. And when Mr. Arafat came to Belgium, he received the red carpet treatment in parliament, while a few weeks later [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon came and they did not want him in parliament. So as a face-saving gesture, the president of the parliament invited him to his office. And the only party to object [to Sharon’s treatment] was Dewinter’s.’

Rosenberg added that Dewinter is “a friend of the Jews, and he says Israel is the only democracy in the region and should be supported by the European Union.” (more here)

The latest fallacious argument against Vlaams Belang comes from a Judas. A leftist dhimmi Jewish editor (vanity press) in Antwerp…

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…I have spoken to a number of Jewish rabbis and members of the Jewish communities in Antwerp and they all basically said the same thing. Freilich does not speak for the Jewish community in Antwerp. “Freilich in no way represents the Jewish community in Antwerp”. “The Jewish community does not read his magazine (“and the Orthodox for sure not”). “He has no status in the Jewish community” “He is an extreme fanatic leftist guy“. He speaks for himself. “It’s a one man newspaper”.

[…]

Filip Dewinter does not need the Jewish vote. There are 25,000 Jews in Antwerp (many of which cannot vote because they are imported) out of a population of one million in broader Antwerp and Dewinter loses many more votes among the electorate because of his “charming support of the Jews”. “The Jews have no relevance in the vote.” And yet he continues to staunchly defend them and Israel. This is, IMAO, a man of character.

He is always asked on Belgian television why he is against the Muslims and yet supports “Hasidim Jews”.

[…]

Fjordman wrote in one exchange,

The Foreign Ministry in my country publicly sponsored a meeting in Oslo recently with Islamic groups that are even banned in the Middle East, among them the Egyptian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Foreign Minister compared Israeli settlements to the Nazis. Every Tom, Dick, and Jerry from the EU meets with radical Islamic groups on a regular basis, and we’re supposed to believe that a peaceful party working within the democratic system constitutes the greatest threat to freedom? The VB are harassed because they constitute a threat to the power and privileges of the corrupt Eurabians in Brussels. They do, which is exactly why I like them.

Enough already.

Look, it’s all very tedious. More to the direct point, what do the doppelgangers say about the counter jihad movement? What do these small men that deride the movement actually do? And what do they contribute to the transatlantic counter jihad movement? I ask you. What is their contribution to an overall counter jihad movement in general? What?

VB is their canard, a club (which diminishes in size) they use to beat the movement down.

There is a lot to be done. I resent having to spend my limited time and energies proving a narcissist’s negative.

Read the rest at Pamela’s place.