Dutch 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.