Hatred of Jews are with top bankers in Europe - ECB president Duisenberg says he fully supports his pro-Palestinian wife (condoning killing of civilians in Israel by arabs)
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Central Bank President Wim Duisenberg countered criticism of his wife'sb pro-Palestinian activism for the first time, telling the Dutch Foreign Ministry he fully supports her.
In a one-page letter released Wednesday, Europe's top banker broke his silence to react to allegations by Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer that Gretta Duisenberg was misusing her diplomatic passport while on a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
"As my (ECB) position requires, I had stayed out of my wife's affairs," Duisenberg wrote de Hoop Scheffer. "But I can tell you I support her 100 percent."
"My wife got her diplomatic passport in 1987, the year we were married, in relation to my position as the president of the Dutch Central Bank, and not, as suggested, as part of my job as the ECB president."
He argued that the diplomatic passport is the only one Gretta can use after having "turning in" her old one.
That claim was countered by the Foreign Ministry Wednesday.
"The one crucial point here is that Mrs. Duisenberg has a regular passport and she should have used it," spokesman Bart Jochems said.
Duisenberg's letter also tried to smooth over commotion caused by comments by his wife perceived by some as condoning Palestinian suicide bombers. The bank head said his wife rejects such tactics.
Gretta Duisenberg's sympathy for the Palestinians first attracted criticism when she hung a Palestinian flag from the couple's Amsterdam home for two months last year.
She has attended several pro-Palestinian rallies as the chairwoman of a group called "Stop the Occupation" and is popular in the Dutch pro-Palestinian movement. She now faces a private lawsuit filed by the activist group "Joods Federatief Nederland," which accuses her of making anti-Semitic remarks, amounting to a hate crime.
The lawsuit was provoked by a radio interview in which Duisenberg said she had collected 6,000 signatures on a pro-Palestinian petition. Asked how many more signatures she hoped to collect, she responded "6 million" and laughed. Critics say she meant the remark as a reference to the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, a link she denies.
On Wednesday, she met Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as part of on a six-day tour of the region |
