The Dutch government has collapsed because of differences between coalition parties over asylum policies, according to media reports.
The four parties were unable to find agreement in crisis talks chaired by Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The government was set up a year-and-a-half ago, but the parties have been diametrically opposed on migration policy for some time.
New elections will now be held, probably in the autumn.
Mr Rutte is expected to hand in his cabinet’s resignation.
His conservative VVD party had been trying to limit the flow of asylum seekers, but junior partners D66 and the Christian Union refused to support the proposals.
A proposal to restrict entry to family members of refugees already in the Netherlands caused particular tension.
Mr Rutte, 56, is the country’s longest serving prime minister and has been in office since 2010. The current government – which took office in January 2022 – is his fourth coalition.
For centuries, the Irish fought British Protestants and, eventually, southern Ireland prevailed to become the independent Republic of Ireland. However, there’s a new theocratic overlord headed their way, and they don’t seem inclined to fight this time. Preemptive surrender appears to be the chosen pathway, at least for those people in Galway who were told the most common boy’s first name in their city.
You’re about to get the world’s shortest history of Ireland: England long coveted Ireland. By the mid-16th century, under Henry VIII, it conquered the land (although not the people). For the next 370 years (or so), the Irish people fought to get the English out of their country.
England abused the Irish with unparalleled ferocity, especially during Cromwell’s reign. In addition to inflicting death on the Irish through war and police powers, England relentlessly quashed all Irish efforts to improve their economy. The great famine in the mid-19th century occurred in large part because English laws left the Irish with little to grow other than potatoes so that, when blight devastated their only food crop, their choices were to die or abandon their homeland for America.
In the early 20th century, the push for Irish independence saw the creation of the Sinn Féin political party and its military arm, the Irish Republican Army (“IRA”). In 1921, four-fifths of Ireland, the Catholic part, gained almost complete independence from Britain. Eventually, in 1949, Ireland was fully independent, becoming the nation we know today: The Republic of Ireland. In 1973, Ireland joined the European Economic Community, which later became the EU.
For all those centuries, the land now known as the Republic of Ireland, or just plain Ireland, was wedded to Catholicism, which their monks had kept alive during the darkest years of the Dark Ages. No matter their travails, they never gave up their faith. They were equally committed to their unique Irish culture, keeping their language and practices alive, even as the British periodically criminalized them.
However, there are two things that are even greater than Catholicism. One of those things is leftism. Where leftism goes, religion dies, and that’s what happened in Ireland. Aided by revelations about child sexual abuse in the Church, which shook people’s faith in that institution, as well as Ireland’s political drift to the left, the bottom fell out of Irish Catholicism. Individuals are still faithful, but the nation is not, something made patently clear when it legalized abortion in 2018.
The other thing that is greater than Catholicism is demographics and immigration. Consistent with their loss of faith, the Irish, once known for enormous families, began to have fewer children. Meanwhile, Muslims began to move to Ireland. Ireland was probably welcoming because the Irish are fiercely supportive of the PLO, which they seem to analogize to the IRA. This immigration began slowly but is consistently picking up speed.
That brings us to Galway, in the West of Ireland. It’s Ireland’s fourth most populous city, with almost 86,000 people as of last year. It has a growing Muslim population, too. Interestingly, my admittedly cursory search for specific data on the numbers couldn’t find data for 2016 forward. That means I couldn’t track the full effect of Germany’s Angela Merkel forcing the EU to open its doors to Muslim migrants.
However, the one thing that’s clear is that Muslims are making Galway their home. That’s why The Irish Inquiry sent a roving reporter onto Galway’s streets to ask residents what they think was the city’s most popular boy’s name in 2022. You already know the answer, although most of the people questioned professed ignorance:
What’s fascinating about the video is the way the people, once they learned that fact, quickly schooled themselves to insouciance, presenting the politically correct face of “okay,” that’s fine, whatever. They know they’re not supposed to express shock that one of Ireland’s oldest and biggest cities, a bastion of Irish Catholicism for hundreds of years, is rapidly becoming Muslim. And certainly, Southern Ireland knows where this ends up. Northern Ireland’s divisive majority Protestantism came about because, beginning with James I, England deliberately resettled Protestants in Ireland to change its Catholic faith.
This is true for all of Western Europe. I know from my travels that residents who have roots in these countries going back hundreds or even thousands of years are unhappy, but they keep their mouths shut. They have no First Amendment in Europe, and they know what happens to those who criticize the elite’s chosen people, whether “transexuals” or Muslims.
If you’re interested in a little nostalgia about the British Isles when they seemed admirable, I just learned that many of the books from one of my favorite Scottish-based writers, D.E. Stevenson, are now available on Kindle for remarkably reasonable prices.
Stevenson is not a great writer, but she is a charming writer. Her books are about nice, ordinary people in a polite era who deal with ordinary challenges and, in dealing with them, become better, stronger, and more moral. I call these “getting it right” books, and I like them even better when a wholesome romance is attached. They are very much a reminder of how unbelievably the world has changed in 80-90 years.
In the Mulhouse court on Thursday, a 47-year-old man was tried for domestic violence, deprivation of liberty and sexual assault against his wife, a young Moroccan woman who had moved in with him in the Cité du Bollwerk at the end of 2021. Sentence: four years’ imprisonment, two of them suspended.
A 47-year-old man, who had been in pre-trial detention since his arrest in April 2022, was in the dock on Thursday July 6 at the criminal court in Mulhouse on charges of domestic violence by a spouse, deprivation of liberty and sexual assault by a spouse, the latter offence suggesting rape, which had been redefined as such in agreement with the joint prosecution.
The accused, who is from Morocco and lives in Mulhouse, had known the victim, Yasmina (*), a Moroccan woman in her twenties, via Facebook. They married in Morocco and the young woman came to live with the 40-year-old in France in mid-December 2021, reports presiding judge Tiffany Gamain.
Yasmina reported that the violence began the day she arrived in France because her husband accused her of not wearing a djellaba. During the three and a half months the couple spent together in Mulhouse, the violence happened almost daily. L’Alsace
The French electorate is flocking to right-wing parties in the wake of the recent mass riots which enveloped the nation last week.
A new Ifop poll for Sud Radio showed right-wing parties enjoying a 6 percent swing in support from voters across the country when asked for their voting intentions ahead of next year’s European parliamentary elections.
The National Rally, formerly led by ex-presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and now by Jordan Bardella, topped the poll with more than a quarter (26 percent) of the vote share, up one percentage point.
The liberal-conservative Republicans saw their popularity rise into double figures, up three percentage points to 11 percent, while Éric Zemmour’s Reconquête party and Debout la France (DLF) gained one percentage point each to total 7 percent and 4 percent respectively.
🗳️🇨🇵🇪🇺 Intentions de vote #européennes2024 (post-émeutes, évolution par rapport à mai)
RN 26% +1 RE 20% +1 LR 11% +3 EELV 9% -1 PS 9% -1 LFI 8% -2 R 7% +1 DLF 4% +1 PCF 4% -1
Left-wing parties have suffered a hit to their appeal, dropping five percentage points, with La France Insoumise (LFI) falling to 8 percent.
Emmanuel Macron’s center party Renaissance edged forward one percentage point to attain 20 percent of the vote share despite widespread criticism, including from military leaders, at how the government responded to the thousands of vandals who caused upwards of €1 billion in damage; looted hundreds of businesses, torched vehicles, and even burned residential apartments to the ground.
Conservatives across Europe have seized upon the civil unrest witnessed in France to attack the liberal immigration policies adopted by Western governments since the turn of the century, with many right-wing administrations evidencing the unsavory scenes as justification for their concerns over the proposed EU Migration Pact.
“Shops looted, police cars set on fire, barricades in the streets — this is now happening in the center of Paris and many other French cities. We don’t want such scenes on Polish streets,” tweeted Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Italian Undersecretary for the Interior Nicola Molteni called the riots “a certification of the failure of uncontrolled migration and a warning for the rest of Europe,” while Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said the fantasy of social integration by progressive governments has “quickly turned to disillusionment”.
“It is impossible to integrate large numbers of illegal immigrants from other cultures,” Szijjártó told fellow lawmakers in the Budapest parliament on Tuesday.
Over 3,000 vandals, many of whom are left-wing sympathizers, and foreign nationals or of a migration background, have been arrested in the last week across France and a large police presence continues to be deployed across several major cities.
In Drosnay in the department of Marne, a historic timber-framed church was destroyed by fire on Friday July 7. The cause is not yet known. Numerous firefighters are on the scene.
(…)
This half-timbered church, typical of the area in the Pays du Der, dates from the 16th century. It contained stained glass windows from the same period and was classified as a historic monument on December 21, 1982. “It is quite old and dates back to the 15th or 16th century. It is a building of great importance, especially as it is the circuit of half-timbered churches in the south of Le Der,” explains Mayor Emmanuel Le Roy. france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr
Elle était si jolie et faisait partie du circuit des églises à pans de bois .
Drosnay …en 12 mns vers midi…a perdu son joyau d'architecture …
Un désastre pour notre petite commune 😢😢😢😢😢
A mere three months after a protest in Berlin featured chants of “Death to Jews” and “Death to Israel,” German police stood by as yet another pro-terrorist march took place in the capital city, JNS learned on Thursday.
On late Wednesday afternoon, tens of mainly German Muslim protesters gathered in Berlin’s central Potsdamer Platz under the slogan “An immediate halt to aggression against Jenin.” The rally, which received prior approval from local authorities, ensued after Israeli forces withdrew from Jenin following a two-day counterterrorism operation.
More than 1,000 IDF troops participated in the raid, believed to be the largest deployment in Judea and Samaria in two decades. The military announced on Tuesday that its forces had killed 12 Palestinians during the 48-hour operation, all confirmed terrorists, and arrested more than 100 terrorism suspects.
Ahead of the demonstration in Berlin, a police spokesperson assured JNS that measures had been taken to prevent illegal incitement. “There was a dialogue between the police and the organizer [and] prohibited chants have been discussed,” the spokesman said, while noting that “sufficient” officers would attend the protest.
In April, at a march organized by the German chapter of the Palestinian NGO Samidoun, hundreds of Muslims chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to Jews,” sparking calls for tougher action against anti-Jewish protests.
Among other restrictions, the police subsequently banned the glorification of violence, statements that advocate “the annihilation of the State of Israel and/or its inhabitants,” as well as the display of symbols associated with Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Yet in video footage of Wednesday’s pro-Jenin rally, obtained by JNS, one speaker can be heard saying: “Glory and salvation to the righteous martyrs,” while calling for the release of all terrorists imprisoned by Israel. “We are not allowed to call Israel child murderers,” another speaker added. “If this is not a child-murdering army, what is it then?”
Songs played during the protest praised Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas, and implored attendees to die for “Palestine.” Participants furthermore chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan that essentially calls for the destruction of the Jewish state and likely runs afoul of Berlin’s prohibition against advocating for the annihilation of the State of Israel.
A handful of law enforcement officers seemingly stood by as the events transpired.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident in Berlin earlier this week, anti-Israel activists disseminated flyers that described the Jewish state as a “parasite occupation.” The leaflets, which were plastered on historical monuments, including Cafe Moskau, read: “From the river to the sea… Jenin, we bow to you! Glory to your martyrs, freedom for your prisoners.”
Church of England Torn Between Liberals Who Embrace Gay Wedding and Conservatives Who Reject It – Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, Takes Responsibility for Steep Decline in Attendance https://t.co/rz1kYQmRam
— The Gateway Pundit (@gatewaypundit) July 7, 2023
Following a week of rioting and looting across several French cities, the majority of French citizens want stricter migration controls and sanctions against the families of those who participated in the vandalism, a poll conducted by Odoxa-Backbone Consulting for Le Figaro newspaper revealed.
Although the French government has claimed that the rioting had nothing to do with immigration, a point widely mocked. 71 percent of those polled say they want a reduction in migratory flows in response to the riots. A majority also supported two proposals put forward by the right-wing Les Républicains party and the National Rally: the abolition of the “excuse of minors” (78 percent) and an introduction of “financial sanctions” against the parents of delinquents (77 percent).
A whopping 75 percent of respondents said for those rioters convicted of crimes should have their French citizenship stripped if they are dual nationals.
Some 59 percent of respondents are calling for a tougher immigration bill this autumn. They see recent events as “the consequence of the failings of our migration policy.” This contrasts with Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin’s statement that “there were a lot of Kévins and Mattéos” among those arrested, who were “90 percent French.” This led to Darmanin claiming that “the issue today is young delinquents, not foreigners.”
However, as has been noted numerous times, many of those arrested were second- and third-generation migrants, and much of the video captured of the rioting showed that people of non-European ancestry were participating in the majority of looting incidents and violence caught on film.
The survey found that while popular support for the forces of law and order remains high (64 percent), faith in the French government is dwindling — only 27 percent of respondents considered the government’s response to the crisis to be either good or adequate. On the contrary, the French are expecting tougher measures to be introduced from the government, particularly on immigration.
In its own analysis of the polling data, Odoxa identified the main sentiments of the French population towards the riots as confusion (77 percent), anger (84 percent), and fear for the future of the country (89 percent).
Following the killing of a 17-year-old boy, France is once again the scene of riots that reflect the gulf between traditional France and the suburbs — the result of immigration over the last 40 years.
Nahel Merzouk was killed by police. He was being chased in Nanterre, near Paris, by two policemen on a motorcycle for traffic violations and refusal to stop the car he was driving. After Merzouk was forced to stop the car due to traffic congestion, the policemen approached his car and drew their weapons. Merzouk then drove off, at which point one of the policemen fired his weapon at the car, fatally wounding Merzouk. If Merzouk had followed the orders of the police, he would not have died.
In 2021, there were 27,809 refusals to obey police orders in France — one every twenty minutes or so. At just 17 years of age, Merzouk already had 15 entries in his criminal record, for rebellion against police officers, use of falsely-numbered car plates (he was driving a Mercedes A-class with Polish plates that day), driving without insurance, the use and sale of narcotics, and more.
His death nevertheless triggered a wave of rioting across France, not just in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the events took place. Images show war scenes with Molotov cocktails, fireworks, and burning garbage dumpsters, cars and buildings. Stores were looted, and 269 police stations were attacked. School and cultural centers were targeted and in some instances, ransacked and destroyed. Even Fresnes Prison, the country’s second-largest, was attacked. 1,105 buildings were set on fire and 808 police officers injured.
These events are in more the tradition of 1789, the start of the French Revolution.
The young people who are shooting at the police, smashing and looting say they are angry about Merzouk’s death, but it is hard to see how this violence and looting, often against property that directly benefits the inhabitants of these neighborhoods — schools, bus shelters and streetcars — can “appease their anger” or lead to anything positive.
The policeman who shot Merzouk has been charged with voluntary manslaughter. Disregarding the presumption of innocence, and thereby damning the policeman, President Emmanuel Macron, who is supposed to be the guardian of institutions, described the shooting as “inexplicable and inexcusable”, even while the investigation was still in its early stages. The President of the National Assembly called for a minute of silence to observe Merzouk’s death.
These responses — skirting due process at the highest levels of government — show the fear that the suburbs instill in those in power: the fear of a generalized conflagration, the fear of another death, the fear that control of the situation is slipping away, the fear of the inability to control these uprisings or the root causes that breed them.
Some of these suburbs have long since become lawless zones, or rather zones of “alternative law,” where drug kingpins and Muslim imams now rule the roost, and where the police only move in force from time to time. In some neighborhoods, drug dealers have set up physical obstacles that make it difficult for the police to gain access when they decide to intervene by force, when the authorities can pretend that they still control something.
A few months ago, France was moved by the murder of Lola, aged 11, by an Algerian woman who had been ordered to leave the country. This murder by a woman who should not have been in France, but whom, as in the majority of similar cases (only 16% of removal orders are enforced) in which the government refused to deport someone, moved the whole of France, but the French people remained calm. They did not demonstrate, they did not destroy anything, there was no minute’s silence in the National Assembly and Macron did not consider the facts “inexplicable and inexcusable”.
The difference between the two situations? Lola was a little white girl killed by an illegal immigrant in France. The left did not protest. Right-wing parties were outraged and saw the tragedy as a sign that the state had given up on uncontrolled immigration.
In Nanterre, the victim was a youth of immigrant origin killed by a white policeman trying to stop him. Despite his delinquent past, young people of immigrant origin in the suburbs see Merzouk as a martyr, the victim of a racist society. The powerful far-left party La France Insoumise (“France Unbowed”) is adding to the fire by refusing to call for calm, and seems to hope that this tragedy will be its “George Floyd moment”, triggering a street revolution in France in the tradition of 1789.
More fundamentally, this gulf between the two Frances bears witness once again to the failure of immigration policy over the past 40 years, with massive, uncontrolled legal and illegal immigration continuing, resulting in millions of young people who are legally French but who do not feel French and who may even hate France.
The death of Merzouk can in no way justify the riots of recent days. In the short term, holding accountable whoever breaks the law is probably the only solution. There need to be serious, severe sentences for defacing and destroying property and inflicting personal harm. French judges, however, tend to be lax (here,here and here), and find excuses for juvenile delinquents, whom they often see as “victims”. In addition, Macron has barely begun to build capacity for the 15,000 additional prison places he promised.
It is necessary to deal with the cause — excessive and uncontrolled immigration — both legal (through family reunification and the right of asylum) and illegal. When you are faced with a leak in a boat that is on the verge of sinking, as French society is, you not only have to have to bail out the water, but also plug the breach. Not tackling the immigration issue would serve no purpose: the same causes would produce the same effects.
Macron, however, has always been reluctant to tackle immigration. Let us not forget, he comes from the left and was a minister under Socialist President François Hollande. The Macron government apparently hopes that the situation will calm down, and over the next few months, they will probably try less and less to re-establish order and security in these neighborhoods, as they come increasingly under the dominion of an alternative law. The police, who are subjected to attacks of unprecedented violence, will be even more reluctant to intervene. It is therefore to be feared that nothing will fundamentally change, and that the French taxpayers will pay in vain to rebuild all that has been destroyed… until the next uprising. The rioters have already won and France is more divided than ever.
There are “two Frances” facing each other. One is violent, ready to riot at the first opportunity, encouraged by political parties who see it as an electoral reservoir. The other, still in the majority, is dignified and peaceful, outraged by the behavior of these young people of immigrant origin — but who remain silent and do nothing.
