'Time for Talk Is Over' -- Wilders Demands 'Rigorous

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Dutch populist Geert Wilders led a chorus demanding “rigorous measures” against those involved in the antisemitic violence in Amsterdam over the past week, including potentially removing citizenship from perpetrators.

At a gathering of fellow government coalition partners on Tuesday, Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders said that in the wake of the targetted attack on dozens of Israeli soccer fans last week and the outbreak of riots in Amsterdam on Monday evening, the “time for talking is over”.

“I have been warning about this for more than ten years. People have absolutely nothing to do with Western norms and values, but with Islamic values, and they are diametrically opposed to ours,” Wilders said per broadcaster NOS.

The anti-mass migration populist was joined by Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB) party leader Caroline van der Plas, who said that most of the perpetrators of the violence against supporters of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team — who were targeted in ‘hit and run’ attacks by gangs on scooters last week — were “Moroccan and North African youth with an Islamic background.”

“We now see that this has nothing to do with Maccabi supporters but with hatred of Jews,” Van der Plas said. “It is too late for integration classes. We are so behind the times. Those guys laugh at us out of their asses. I am not saying that we should throw all Moroccans out of the country, but we do have to do something.”

Wilders called for the government to move to strip dual citizens involved of their Dutch passports and deport them from the country.

The Turkish-born leader of the coalition partner centre-right Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Dilan Yeşilgöz, said that she would not rule out such a move but said: “At the moment, we have to look at everything. But I hope that the perpetrators are arrested first and brought before the judge. We are not even that far yet.”

While she stressed that the government should not hold all individuals from certain ethnic groups responsible for the violence, Yeşilgöz acknowledged that The Netherlands must do more to confront the spread of radical Islamist and antisemitic sentiment among Muslim groups in the country.

“They learn at home, at Islamic weekend schools and on television channels from the countries of origin that women are inferior, that Jews do not have the right to live. Then you can teach Holocaust education at schools, but if they keep hearing that Hitler was unable to finish his work, then something is really wrong.”

Last month, the Dutch government passed legislation to clamp down on migration and step up deportations, notably of Syrian nationals. The legislation also cuts down on “chain” family migration and ends the requirement for local governments to house so-called asylum seekers.

On Monday, the government also announced that it would follow in Germany’s footsteps in enacting emergency border security measures, including additional border checks to limit illegal migrants entering the country.

Dutch Migration Minister Marjolein Faber, a member of the Wilders-led Party for Freedom, said, “It is time to tackle irregular migration and migrant smuggling in a concrete way. That is why we will start reintroducing border controls in the Netherlands from the beginning of December.”

Wilders, who led his party to victory in last year’s elections and stands as the main power behind the coalition government, said that the border restrictions demonstrate that his party “delivers” on its promises to the people.