Dutch prosecutors: Calling Israeli children “Zionist terrorists” is not incitement

Calling Israeli children “Zionist terrorists in training” and “future child murderers and occupiers” does not constitute incitement to hate, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service said.

The prosecution service decided on Wednesday not to prosecute Abdoe Khoulani, a local councillor in The Hague, on the basis of a criminal complaint filed against him over statements he had made in May about schoolchildren from Israel who visited his city.

The service cited how Zionists are “indistinguishable” from other people by race, complexion or origins. He would have been prosecuted had he spoken about Jews, they added. Furthermore, the schoolchildren did not complain themselves against Khoulani, making it procedurally difficult to prosecute him for intending to cause them offense, the decision said.

The youth movement of the Reformed Political Party, which hosted the visiting Israeli “Young Ambassadors” programme in The Hague, filed the complaint with police against Khoulani for hate speech. Facebook has removed his post where he made the remarks.

But the prosecution service said it would prosecute Khoulani, who represents the Islamist Party of Unity on the city council of The Hague and who is Muslim, for repeatedly insulting Anneke Brons, who has defended Israel on social media and had criticised his comment about the children.

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