What is a “kaas-etende capitulatie aap”? That’s Dutch for cheese-eating surrender monkey, which is exactly what Jozias van Aartsen is. Van Aartsen is mayor of The Hague, where supporters of ISIS rallied, calling for death to the Jews and other charming sentiments we have come to expect from gentlemen of the Islamic religion. ISIS supporters physically attacked counterdemonstrators. Mayor van Aartsen stayed away on vacation.

But when he returned at long last, he said that there would be no more protests against radical Islam in that neighborhood. “Too provocative,” he said. Steve Emerson comments:

In other words, Muslim radicals calling for the death of Dutch non-Muslims, the gassing of Jews – this, Mayor van Aartsen finds acceptable behavior. But a protest against such speech is not: too much violence could ensue. “Ban it,” he says, as if to suggest that by banning mini-skirts, you can soon be rid, too, of rape.

Van Aartsen is by no means the only culprit. Efforts to keep from “offending” Muslims are common now throughout Europe , where Christmas celebrations are curtailed and art museums have been known to censor works potentially “distressing” to Muslims. And earlier this week, officials removed a plaque marking the Belfast birthplace of former Israeli president Chaim Herzog “due to a spate of attacks.”

Really? Is this how we respond to brutal violence, to racism, to threats on our homes and lives and values? Or has Europe already lost sight of what those values mean, and why they matter?

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