Category Archives: Netherlands

The Crusader: Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“It makes me cringe when I hear references to Ayaan Hirsi Ali. An ex-Muslim, a former Dutch parliamentarian, and a feminist, Hirsi Ali is often trotted out as some sort of spokeswoman for moderate Islam. A few years back, she wrote a book (‘Infidel’) and produced a movie ‘Submission’) that condemn harsh treatment associated with Islam; since then, she’s been a celebrity. As blogger Shadi Hamid notes, ‘people seem intent on treating her as some kind of anointed spokeswoman for oppressed Muslim women, a reformer from within the faith or, worse, a kind of pseudo-Muslim Martin Luther’.

“But Hirsi Ali is no Martin Luther. She’s condescending, elitist, and inspires no respect amongst Muslims. Hamid points out that he has ‘yet to meet even one Muslim on the planet, secular or conservative, liberal or illiberal, who actually thinks that Hirsi Ali is helping the cause of internal Muslim reform’.”

Jeb Koogler at The Moderate Voice, 24 October 2007

‘Islamisation of Europe’ suffers setback in Netherlands

Posted on by Bob Pitt

There are significantly fewer Muslims in the Netherlands than previously believed, the country’s Central Bureau for Statistics said Wednesday, after a review of its census techniques. The CBS said it was cutting estimates to 850,000, or 5.2 percent of the country’s 16.3 million population, from 1 million, or 6.1 percent.

Associated Press, 24 October 2007

A bit of a problem, you’d have thought, for fantasists like Geert Wilders, Mark Steyn, Douglas Murray and David Icke who have been predicting an Islamic takeover of the Netherlands.

‘Defeat Islam’ says Hirsi Ali

Posted on by Bob Pitt

There’s an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (hat tip: The Angry Arab) in the November issue of Reason magazine. The following exchange takes place in response to Hirsi Ali’s insistence on the need for Islam to be “defeated”:

Reason: Don’t you mean defeating radical Islam?

Hirsi Ali: No. Islam, period. Once it’s defeated, it can mutate into something peaceful. It’s very difficult to even talk about peace now. They’re not interested in peace.

Reason: We have to crush the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims under our boot? In concrete terms, what does that mean, “defeat Islam”?

Hirsi Ali: I think that we are at war with Islam. And there’s no middle ground in wars. Islam can be defeated in many ways. For starters, you stop the spread of the ideology itself; at present, there are native Westerners converting to Islam, and they’re the most fanatical sometimes. There is infiltration of Islam in the schools and universities of the West. You stop that. You stop the symbol burning and the effigy burning, and you look them in the eye and flex your muscles and you say, “This is a warning. We won’t accept this anymore.” There comes a moment when you crush your enemy.

Dutch Labour Party chair repudiates Ehsan Jami

Posted on by Bob Pitt

AMSTERDAM – Dutch Labour party PvdA chairman, Ruud Koole, says Islam critic and Labour council member Ehsan Jami is distancing himself from party ideology with his statements about Islam.

In an article published in daily newspaper, Volkskrant, Wednesday, Koole is quoted as saying that Labour representatives are “expected not to go against fundamental party principles in his public statements”.

On 27 September, 22-year old Jami and Freedom party (PVV) leader Geert Wilders co-wrote an article in the newspaper in which they stressed the need for strong criticism of Islam. “If we do not act now against the far-reaching Islamisation of the Netherlands,” the two wrote, “then the 1930s will be revived. The only difference is that back then the danger came from Adolf Hitler, while today it comes from Mohammed.”

Koole, in the Volksrant article Wednesday, refers to Jami’s remarks about the Islam as “degrading” and says they also contradict the principles of a democratic constitutional state “which guarantees freedom of religion”.

Jami is a Labour council member in Leidschendam-Voorburg and the chairman of the Committee for former Muslims. He has received little public support from his party following his criticism of Islam.

Expatica, 3 October 2007

Left-Right anti-Muslim alliance in the Netherlands

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Council of ex-MuslimsCritic of Islam, Ehsan Jami, and Freedom Party leader, Geert Wilders, compared the Prophet Mohammed to Adolf Hitler in a co-written article published in the Dutch daily Volkskrant Thursday.

In their article, Wilders and Jami say strong criticism of Islam is absolutely necessary. “If we do not act now against the far-reaching Islamisation of the Netherlands, then the 1930s will be revived. The only difference is that back then the danger came from Adolf Hitler, while today it comes from Mohammed.”

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The case against banning the Koran – according to D. Pipes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daniel Pipes rejects calls by Geert Wilders, Roberto Calderoli et al for a ban on the Qur’an and/or Islam. Can’t see that going down too well with some of his admirers. But fear not, Daniel hasn’t succumbed to the disease of liberal appeasement. He writes: “More practical and focused would be to reduce the threats of jihad and Shari’a by banning Islamist interpretations of the Koran, as well as Islamism and Islamists.”

Jerusalem Post, 28 August 2007

Update:  See “US Islamophobes fall out”, Islamophobia Watch, 29 August 2007

Wilders won’t talk with Muslim Council

Posted on by Bob Pitt

THE HAGUE – Freedom Party PVV leader Geert Wilders refuses to enter dialogue with the Dutch Muslim Council, the Volkskrant reports. The council has invited him to talk about the ban on the Koran that the politician suggested in an article two weeks ago. Chairman of the Muslim Council Khairoun says that Wilders was taking passages from the Koran out of context.

The PVV leader said in the AD on Saturday that he was not interested in a talk with the organisation. “I will refrain from doing that not because I don’t want dialogue, but because a debate on this is not possible. It is pointless,” says Wilders. The Muslim Council has proposed a “constructive dialogue” to combat polarisation and feelings of fear in society.

Wilders contests in the AD that he is sowing hate. “That is what the Koran does. It is a fascist book. That is not a book we should have here. Maybe if you take all the harmful verses out of it, but then there wouldn’t be much left. Then the Koran would be about as thick as a comic book.”

Expatica, 20 August 2007

Dutch far-right MP calls for Koran ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

geert_wildersDutch populist MP Geert Wilders Wednesday called for a ban on the Koran in the Netherlands, describing the Islamic holy book as a “fascist” text that exhorts followers to kill and rape. The Dutch government swiftly condemned Wilders’ remarks as damaging for community relations in the Netherlands and said that the proposal was unworthy of consideration.

“It has to be perfectly clear that banning the Koran in the Netherlands is not up for discussion for this government and will not be up for discussion in future. We have freedom or religion here,” integration minister Ella Vogelaar, said in a statement. Vogelaar described Wilders’ call as “an insult to the majority of Muslims in the Netherlands and abroad who reject calls to hate and violence.”

The leader of the far-right Freedom Party, which holds nine of the 150 seats in parliament, called for the ban in a letter published in the De Volkskrant newspaper. Wilders compared the Koran to Adolf Hitler’s autobiography Mein Kampf and said that it has “no place in our constitutional state.”

“I have been saying this for years: there is no such thing as a moderate Islam,” Wilders wrote, adding that there were several chapters in the Koran “that call on Muslims to oppress, persecute, or kill Christians, Jews, dissidents, and non-believers, to beat and rape women, and to establish an Islamic state by force.”

Wilders wrote the letter after a weekend attack on young local politician Eshan Jami who founded a group to support people who have renounced Islam. Jami, who was not visibly injured in the attack, is now under constant police protection like Wilders.

“Ban this wretched book like Mein Kampf is banned! Send a signal to Jami’s attackers and other Islamic radicals that the Koran cannot be used in the Netherlands as an inspiration or an excuse for violence,” Wilders said.

“I am fed up with Islam in the Netherlands: no more Muslim immigrants allowed. I am fed up with the worship of Allah and Mohammed in the Netherlands: no more mosques,” he finished his letter.

Middle East Times, 8 August 2007

Dutch anti-Islam MP in new bid to ban veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

THE HAGUE – A Dutch right-wing anti-Islam politician on Thursday submitted new proposals for a law banning burqas after an earlier attempt stranded.

In letter to parliament Geert Wilders, who heads the Freedom Party which has nine of the 150 seats in the lower house, wrote that “the burqa and the niqab is a symbol of the oppression of women” and is “in defiance of the democratic constitutional state”.

Wilders wants to ban specifically burqas and niqabs in public places including stations, stadiums, shops, restaurants, museums, hospitals, cars driving on the public roads and public transport. He proposes a maximum sentence of 12 days in jail or a fine of 3,350 euros (4,619 dollars).

Middle East Online, 12 July 2007