Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Far Right-Winger Geert Wilders Dumped From Dutch Anti-Semitism Push

A Dutch Jewish group dropped the politician Geert Wilders from a petition against anti-Semitism.

The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, or CIDI, had approached Wilders for his signature along with other well-known Dutchmen. But the group dropped Wilders’ name when the petition appeared on Thursday as a full-page ad in De Telegraaf daily.

“In the Netherlands, everyone must live safely, also Jews,” read the petition.

The petition noted that it was not an “expression of solidarity with Israel’s government.” Rather, the 86 signatories said: “Criticism on Israel? Okay. Jew-hatred? No way.”

CIDI director Esther Voet told the Volkskrant daily that Wilders, the leader of the far-right Party for Freedom, was removed after he criticized a joint declaration earlier this week by Jewish community representatives and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

In an open letter this week, Wilders accused Rutte of ignoring “the elephant in the room,” adding: “You fear Islam so you will not say what everybody knows: The more Islam grows in the Netherlands, the more anti-Semitism grows.”

Released amid an elevated level of anti-Semitic incidents coinciding with Israel’s actions in Gaza, the Aug. 4 declaration read: “Conflict occurring elsewhere must not lead to tension and conflicts between various groups in the Dutch society.”

The statement did not mention Israel, but it did praise a Muslim group’s call for tolerance.

CIDI wrote in a statement that Wilders’ name was removed because his letter “did exactly what concerns the people who made the declaration, namely importing the Middle East conflict” to Holland.

Voet also told Dutch media that 70 percent of anti-Semitic incidents were caused by immigrants, though she did not know their religion.

Wilders lived in Israel for two years and is a staunch supporter of the Jewish state. He is also outspoken in his opposition to Islam and recently caused controversy when he suggested Holland should have “fewer Moroccans.”

Federative Jewish Netherlands, a small right-wing Jewish group, criticized CIDI’s actions and called on it to apologize to Wilders, whom it thanked for his efforts on behalf of Israel and Dutch Jewry.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.