Dutch Jews louder than Muslims in condemning 'Fitna' film

Ironically, Dutch Jews are more outspoken than local Muslims in their criticism of the newly released anti-Islam film by rightist legislator Geert Wilders, says Dr. Ronny Naftaniel, head of the pro-Zionist Center for Information and Documentation (CIDI).

Last Friday, hours after the film's online release, CJO, the Jewish community central board of which CIDI is a member, condemned the footage as generalizing and counterproductive to the fight against extremism. The board described parts of the film as unacceptable, adding it had crossed the line of legitimate criticism.

By contrast, Yusuf Altuntas of CMO, a body that facilitates contact between Muslims and the government, said that by releasing the film - which is entitled "Fitna" (Arabic for "strife") - "Wilders is testing the limits of acceptability, but hasn't gone beyond them."

The Muslim community's response - which the Dutch media described as "calm" - was to say the film is not religiously insulting to Islam, and that they had anticipated more offensive content. The government's fears of rioting never materialized.

"They [the Muslim community] are afraid. They have been told by the Dutch government to keep quiet and be wise about this issue, and that's what they want to do," Naftaniel told Haaretz on Monday in CIDI's four-story headquarters near the American embassy.

"I was surprised by the silence of the local Muslim leaders," Naftaniel added. "If I were a Muslim, I would speak out and I would blame Wilders for this film. I wouldn't stop shouting about it. I don't understand their silence, I really don't. I think they are scared."

A spokesman for CMO told Haaretz that although the Muslim community had not taken to protesting the film in the streets, the umbrella group for Dutch Muslims does condemn it.

The 15-minute film, which drew millions of viewers since its release Thursday, contains footage of Muslim clerics and protesters calling for the slaying of Jews, verses from the Koran, videos from scenes of suicide bombings and executions, illustrations of the demographic increase in the number of European Muslims and archive material from the Dutch media about Islamic terrorism-related incidents.

Naftaniel says that even though he feels the Dutch Jewish community is more at liberty to criticize "Fitna" than the Muslim community, "the only thing which may prevent many Jews from criticizing this film is that they consider Wilders very pro-Israeli and that they don't want to annoy him."

After the Jewish community condemned the film, CIDI received several angry calls from members who objected to the criticism. "Some even wanted to leave our organization, but I really think that what he did was wrong," he said.

Naftaniel stressed that it's not the criticism of Islam that prompted him to condemn the film, but the linking of that criticism of Koran-inspired violence with the demographics. Naftaniel said that is tantamount to suggesting all Muslims are terrorists.

CIDI's founder says he was particularly offended by angry reactions to the Jewish condemnation of "Fitna." These reactions, which came mainly as reader responses to online articles about the condemnation, accused the Jewish community of trying to appease the Holland's Muslims.

"We are never afraid to speak out in the harshest of terms against what we think is wrong, be it against Muslim extremism here in the Netherlands, or the Dutch or Israeli governments," he said. "But this movie portrays all Muslims as The Enemy. And this is just not true."

Source: www.haaretz.com

Read More......

Indonesian House Speaker warns govt of Fitna film

The House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono warned Friday the government of Fitna film produced by a Dutch politician as it could cause new religious conflict.

Fitna, aired on www.youtube.com, cited Holy Koran verses and displayed, among other things, the Sept. 11, 2001 attack which has been committed by those who claimed to represent Islam.

Fitna has been touted as a misleading critique of Islam and Koran.

Agung said the government must take action against the film in youtube as people would easily download and distribute it to others.

He also asked the Netherlands' government and the film producer to withdraw Fitna from the public.

The Netherlands' government said its state prosecutors could investigate whether Fitna incited violence when the film was available to the public.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Read More......

“Fitna” Film of Militant Islam to Be Edited

Dutch lawmaker makes changes to “Fitna” for copyright, not content

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders has agreed to edit “Fitna,” his short film examining the link between verses in the Koran and militant Islam, but not to cater to critics’ sensibilities. He is doing so to avoid a copyright lawsuit by a group of Danish journalists, who claim he had no permission to use a controversial political cartoon in the introduction and conclusion of his hotly debated piece.

“I don’t want my drawing to be used in something that I don’t know anything about,” the cartoon’s author, Kurt Westergaard, told the Associated Press. “Had Mr. Wilders contacted me, we could have talked together and I could have found out what he wanted with the drawing.” His group, the Danish Union of Journalists, has threatened to sue Wilders for using the illustration without the artist’s consent.

The image at the heart of the controversy within a controversy features the Prophet Mohammed with a lit bomb contained within his turban. The picture was one of several of the revered Islamic founder that caused mass protests across Europe and the Middle East upon their original publication in 2005. In his film, Wilders imposed a more realistic flame over the bomb and lengthened its wick.

This recent development is the latest in the short, but highly polarizing journey taken by Wilders, 44, to distribute “Fitna,” which the international Muslim community has largely criticized as blasphemous and offensive. Since its release Thursday, European Union leaders, the U.N. secretary-general and several Dutch officials have made it clear they do not support the movie, but have fallen short of calls by many Muslim world leaders to censor it.

Source: Hollywood Today

Read More......

Should Dutch film "FITNA' be banned?

This is a discussion in digitalpoint forums.

A section of Muslims in the city (Mumbai) has asked the Government to ban the controversial film 'Fitna' that is shceduled to be released on 28 March.

This 'Fitna' is produced and directed by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, the 15 minutes film claims to offer a 'critical view of Islam and the Quran'.

My personal view on this issue is to ban the film not only in India but also all over the world, because the basic funda is that no religion of the world neither promote terrorism nor hatred. It is simply the misinterpretation of the Quranic Versse. Which the author might have failed to understand with right spirit.

Read more about this topic at http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=752988

Read More......

Anti-Islamic Film Taken Offline Following Threats

Fitna, an anti-Islamic film made by Dutch politician Geert Wilders that equates Islam with violence, debuted on Thursday at Web site LiveLeak.com, only to be taken down a day later following threats to LiveLeak's staff.

LiveLeak on Friday afternoon issued a statement explaining its decision: "Following threats to our staff of a very serious nature, and some ill-informed reports from certain corners of the British media that could directly lead to the harm of some of our staff, LiveLeak.com has been left with no other choice but to remove Fitna from our servers.

"This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. We would like to thank the thousands of people, from all backgrounds and religions, who gave us their support. They realized LiveLeak.com is a vehicle for many opinions and not just for the support of one.

"Perhaps there is still hope that this situation may produce a discussion that could benefit and educate all of us as to how we can accept one another's culture. We stood for what we believe in, the ability to be heard, but in the end the price was too high."

Initial efforts to detail the film proved less successful. Network Solutions on Saturday suspended the Web site where Wilders had been planning to premiere the film, citing complaints about the then unseen film's content.

During the day that the film was available, it prompted widespread condemnation. On Friday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon decried Fitna as hate speech.

"I condemn, in the strongest terms, the airing of Geert Wilders' offensively anti-Islamic film," said Ban in a statement. "There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence. The right of free expression is not at stake here. I acknowledge the efforts of the Government of the Netherlands to stop the broadcast of this film, and appeal for calm to those understandably offended by it. Freedom must always be accompanied by social responsibility."

Ban said that the real fault line is not between Muslim and Western nations but a minority of extremists eager to stir strife.

The Organization of The Islamic Conference also denounced the film as blasphemy. OIC Secretary General Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said, "The film is a deliberate act of discrimination against Muslims, incitement for hatred and an act defamation of religions which is solely intended to incite and provoke unrest and intolerance among people of different religious beliefs and to jeopardize world peace and stability."

In the day that Fitna played, it was viewed over 420,000 times. More than 280 comments were posted on LiveLeak.com. And many chose to reply through countervideos, which are still online.

The word "fitna" in Arabic means strife or conflict within a group.

The film may also generate a lawsuit. The BBC reports that Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, known for his cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban, plans to sue Wilders for using his cartoon in the film without permission.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207000505

Read More......

Anti-Islam film fails to provoke Dutch Muslims

Amsterdam - The release of a controversial anti-Islam film by a Dutch legislator had been expected to cause turmoil among Muslims in the Netherlands and abroad.

But on Friday, a day after the 16-minute film entitled Fitna, which criticizes the Koran and warns of the 'Islamization' of the European country, Muslims in the migrant neighbourhood of Lombok in Utrecht did not appear shaken.

There was virtually no reaction throughout the Netherlands to Geert Wilders' much-anticipated film, that was watched by more than 2 million people within the first two hours of its release on the internet.

The vast majority of Dutch viewers, Muslims and non-Muslims alike appear not to have found the film particularly provocative towards Muslims.

In Eindhoven, several Muslim organizations distributed special forms in the city's seven mosques enabling everyone to file a complaint of discrimination against Wilders with the Dutch police.

But in the crowded shopping streets of Lombok in the fourth largest Dutch city, Muslims appeared much less motivated to take action against Wilders. Friday's shopping continued as usual.

'No, we are not talking about Fitna,' a man standing among a large group of Muslims standing outside a local mosque after prayers on Friday, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

'We are talking about my new car. That's really more important than some film by a Dutch legislator about the Koran.'

Another man, who identified himself as Ahmed, 27, added, 'Of course we watched the movie. But the truth is Wilders showed nothing new in his film. What does he think, that I agree to the horrific executions he showed in his film?'

In a local grocery store, a woman wearing a black burka responded confused when approached by dpa. She said she cannot talk to the media. Asked whether she had seen Wilders' movie, she apologized and walked away.

Another Muslim woman, wearing a headscarf had apparently witnessed the encounter, and approached dpa on her own initiative.

'It is a pity she did not talk to you,' said Fatima, a 32-year-old mother of two. 'Her refusal to talk to Western media confirms the ideas of people like Wilders.'

'The truth is that the vast majority of us, Dutch Muslims, do not identify with terrorist and fundamentalist ideas such as those expressed in the movie.'

'We just want to live our lives,' she said, 'but it's people like Wilders who polarize society and make us feel estranged. He says he sees a lot of integration problems in the Netherlands. The sad truth is that he himself contributes to them too.'

The umbrella organization of the Jewish community in the Netherlands, CJO, released a statement on Friday expressing a similar view.

'The film is counterproductive,' the CJO statement said. 'The expressions about Jews originating from the Koran, and referred to in the movie, demonstrate that some Muslims have horrific ideas about Jews and also indoctrinate children with such ideas. However, the way Fitna portrays reality polarizes society.'

Meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said he was 'proud' of Dutch Muslims and praised their calm reactions following the film.

The Dutch parliament is due to discuss the film on Tuesday.

Source: http://news.monstersandcritics.com

Read More......

Fitna is just a really bad film

This is a reportage from The Observers.

A few months ago we announced that Dutch politician Geert Wilders was preparing an anti-Islamic film that would "add fuel to the fire". Yesterday, the long awaited video made its debut online. We ask our Observers what effects it might have in their countries, from Holland to Pakistan. After all the fuss, maybe not that much.

The film was supposed to be released on a specially created website, but the American company Network Solutions, which manages domain names worldwide, refused to allow Wilders to use Fitnathemovie.com. So the rightwing party leader decided to use the viral method instead. The film was released at 7pm last night on several internet platforms. "Non-censored" video sharing site LiveLeak was the first to host it, followed by Google Video. Rightwing blogs then posted the URLs so that people could find it. Wilders knew to use peer to peer networks (Kazaa, eMule etc) so that the video was soon all over the Internet in various formats. His was a clever move, as such networks are notoriously difficult to censor. In just three hours, the film had been watched more than a million times on LiveLeak alone, and three million by the following afternoon, which probably makes it one of the fastest selling videos on the net.

For more information, visit http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20080328-fitna-geert-wilders-anti-islam

Read More......

Anti-Islam film likely to provoke violence

When the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published the controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist in September 2005, the Muslim world was in an uproar, to say the least. In the months that followed, Muslims from Islamabad to Jakarta participated in violent and sometimes deadly protests, embassies were set on fire and leaders from several Islamic countries condemned the publication of the cartoons.

Other past events have shown that criticism of Islam is usually met with violence from radical Muslims. Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the murder of British author Salman Rushdie for his 1988 book, "The Satanic Verses." Director Theo Van Gogh was killed for his 2004 film "Submission," and the film's writer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, receives death threats to this day.

And it is likely that we will see a similar replay of violence in the days to come. Yesterday, after months of trying to secure a media outlet to broadcast his controversial anti-Islam film "Fitna," far-right Dutch party leader and adamant critic of Islam Geert Wilders finally succeeded. The film was posted on the Internet and, according to the Europe Channel, was viewed by more than 200,000 people within the first two hours.

Among other things, the film likens the Quran to Hitler's "Mein Kampf," declaring that Islam is a form of fascism. Undeniably, Wilders' film presents offensive and intolerant material; arguably as extreme as the supposed Islam he criticizes. Wilders himself is a right-wing extremist. According to the Guardian, the Dutch leader said, "Islam is not a religion, it's an ideology … the ideology of a retarded culture."

While in office, Wilders has argued against immigration from Muslim countries and to have all Muslims stripped of their Dutch citizenship and deported. Wilders' goal with "Fitna" is to rescue his country from the supposed dangers of Islam, to spread awareness that Islam is the enemy.

The controversy surrounding Wilders' film is all too familiar. Should we, as free societies, encourage tolerance among people of different races and religions or encourage tolerance of intolerance by upholding the values of free expression?

Central to this issue is the battle between radical Islam and free speech. As the aforementioned events have clearly shown, the two are incompatible. Much of the Muslim world, from the Wahhabist regime in Saudi Arabia to the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan until 2001, violently restricts free speech. Fundamentalist Islamic societies cannot tolerate free expression, least of all expression that involves blasphemy.

The actions and beliefs of these fundamental societies not only damage the name of Islam as a religion, leading to the misconception that Islam is inherently opposed to free expression, but they also hinder Islam's progression in today's modern world.

While moderate Muslims protested peacefully against the messages conveyed by the Danish cartoons, radical Muslims reacted violently. This is proof that in much of the Muslim world today, Islam - or rather, the Islam as invoked by fundamentalist regimes - is stuck in the past. These regimes are holding Islam back.

This is why "Fitna" should be broadcast to a wider audience. Though the film is insulting and inaccurate, and though spreading false and hateful information about Islam could lead to increased prejudice and strife in today's sensitive post-9/11 world, it still seems that not screening the film would be more irresponsible than screening it.

With Islamic terrorism on the rise across the world, major media outlets are exercising caution for fear of provoking violence and anger. Indeed, many Islamic governments have already threatened violence if the film is widely shown.

But rather than giving in to the radical Islamist regimes that misinterpret Islam and suppress their people, free societies across the world have the obligation to maintain the rights of free speech.

Radical Islam must be continually challenged in different ways with hopes that it will eventually disappear.

This is not to say that more and more people should create films like "Fitna." Rather, it means that when such films are created, or similar books are written, they should not, in any way, be censored for the sake of appeasing Islamists.

This article written vy Elham Khatami, originally published at http://media.www.pittnews.com. E-mail Elham at elk23@pitt.edu.

Read More......

Netherlands' PM sends letter to NU on Fitna film

The Netherlands' Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has sent a letter to the Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Hasyim Muzadi, saying the upcoming controversial Fitna film produced by Dutch politician Geert Wilder did not reflect his government stand on Islam.

The letter was delivered by the First Secretary of Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Alexander Kofmanke to the NU office on Wednesday.

In the letter, Balkenende said he understood the disappointment of the NU and other religious organizations in Indonesia over Fitna, which has been touted as a misleading critique of Islam and the Koran and may spark a new religious tension.

He said his government could not ban a film which has not been aired yet. However, once the film is available to the public, state prosecutors could investigate whether or not the film incites crime.

Balkenende agreed that violence should be avoided should the film be released on the Internet.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Read More......

Indonesian Religious leaders reject Fitna film

Religious leaders rejected Thursday the Dutch film Fitna to be featured in Indonesia, saying it was offensive to Muslims.

The joint refusal statement was signed by Nadhatul Ulama chairman Hasyim Muzadi, Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsudin, chairman of the Bishop Council of Indonesia MD Situmorang and chairman of the Indonesian Communion of Churches AA Yewange.

The leaders sent the statement to the Netherlands' Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Netherlands' embassy in Jakarta.

"We are worried this film will be interpreted as an attack on Islam," Hasyim said. "All religious leaders see this film could destroy the harmony among religions in Indonesia. We don't want
this to happen."

Fitna, produced by Dutch politician Geert Wilders and scheduled to be launched later this month, presents a critical view of Islam and the Koran.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country with more than 200 million Muslims living in the archipelago. (***)

Read More......