Israel Matzav: Switzerland's Libya problem

Switzerland's Libya problem

This story has very little to do with Israel, but I'm posting it because it shows the foolishness of the West in continuing to grovel before the feet of the 8th century dictators who rule the Arab Muslim world.

Libya's Muamar Gadhafi's dictatorship has sentenced two Swiss businessmen to 16 months in prison for a minor immigration law violation which is likely revenge for last Sunday's vote in Switzerland to ban new minarets from mosques. The saga of the two businessmen shows how the West allows itself to be manipulated by the Arab Muslim countries.

Max Goeldi and Rachid Hamdani’s misfortunes began in July last year when Gaddafi’s son, Hannibal, and his pregnant daughter-in-law were arrested in a Geneva hotel and charged with beating their servants. The Gaddafis spent two nights in custody before they flew home.

Reprisals followed. Libya cut oil supplies to Switzerland, withdrew $5 billion from Swiss banks and cut Swissair flights to Tripoli. It also arrested Mr Goeldi, director of an engineering company, and Mr Hamdani, who worked for a construction firm, for breaching immigration laws. Expatriates in Libya say that they might have been guilty of a minor infringement, but that was merely a pretext.

The two were released after ten days, but barred from leaving the country. Mr Goeldi took refuge in the Swiss Embassy for more than a year. In August President Merz of Switzerland flew to Tripoli to make a grovelling apology, but the Libyans still refused to let the businessmen leave. They tricked Mr Goeldi into leaving the embassy by saying that he had to have a hospital check-up before flying home.

None of this has anything to do with justice, of course. The two servants dropped their case against Hannibal Gaddafi after the regime paid them compensation. The Libyans planned to release Mr Goeldi and Mr Hamdani after President Merz’s apology, but changed their mind when a Swiss paper published a photograph of Hannibal Gaddafi in police custody. The businessmen were tried in absentia, with no lawyers or foreign journalists present.

Read the whole thing.

Unfortunately, the author draws the wrong conclusion - expressing 'understanding' for his own government's release of the Lockerbie bomber when instead the World should be outraged and should turn Libya into a pariah state.

On the other hand, I can't help but feel a bit of satisfaction at the Swiss getting their comeuppance.

Will this mean that Western Europe will suddenly wake up to the menace posed by Muslim immigration? Don't hold your breath.

Israel Matzav: Switzerland's Libya problem