Cartoons Again? A Double Standard

Despite years abroad and a love and appreciation of Europe, there are some freedoms that are simply broader in the United States, specifically the first and second amendments. It is therefore with no surprise yet considerable disappointment that I read about the latest cartoon controversy in Europe, this time in reverse.

Dutch to prosecute Arabs over Holocaust cartoon

AMSTERDAM – Dutch prosecutors said Wednesday they will charge an Arab cultural group under hate speech laws for publishing a cartoon that suggests the death of 6 million Jews during World War II is a fabrication.The public prosecutor’s office in the city of Utrecht said the cartoon insults Jews as a group and is therefore an illegal form of discrimination. Prosecutors plan to press charges for “insulting a group and distributing an insulting image.” Spokeswoman Mary Hallebeek said the maximum punishment is a year in jail, but a fine of up to euro4,700 ($6,700) is more likely, given that the charges are against the group. The Dutch arm of the Arab European League said it doesn’t deny the reality of the Holocaust, but published the cartoon on its Web site as an “act of civil disobedience” to highlight a double standard.

[...] The cartoon shows two apparently Jewish men standing near a pile of skeletons with a sign that says “Auswitch,” presumably representing the largest Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz. One pokes a bone with a stick and says “I don’t think they’re Jews” and the other answers, “We have to get to the six million somehow.”

As ignorant and distasteful as such a cartoon is, there’s clearly nothing illegal about it, at least in a country that truly values freedom of speech such as the United States. It will be interesting to see the unfolding public reaction in the Netherlands, the rest of Europe and from Jewish groups. If anything, having this case thrown out would at least set a good example of tolerating the free speech Europeans claim to cherish.