Dutch right-wing leader Geert Wilders on Wednesday gave an impassioned speech in support of Israel at the Dutch Parliament.
“I lived in Israel for a while, a long time ago. I’ve seen it too,” Wilders said. “Then it was still from Jordan where the terrorists entered. I also experienced what it was like when those terrorists crossed the border and how you had to take shelter in air raid shelters. And how then the army, with helicopters and magnesium bombs lightings, looked where people were, to protect their population.”
“I know one thing, it’s hatred from these kinds of Islamic groups like Hamas, the Islamic Jihad group, and also Hezbollah,” he added. “There are many of those groups. And they deny the Jewish state’s right to exist.”
Wilders appeared to be addressing another member of Parliament, saying, “And I think you once made a picture like that, too, or your colleague, about what Israel would look like. Well, you also denied Israel’s right to exist in that picture. And I think that this is not only anti-Semitic, but that is exactly how it should not be done.”
“They are being attacked by people who want a country and a people not to exist,” he said. “That’s not what Israel does. Israel puts the Arabs in the Knesset, in parliament. In Israel, they are full-fledged citizens, who are better off living in Israel than living in the Palestinian territories. Israel does not attack another country and has never attacked another country without first being attacked itself. Not in the Yom Kippur war and not in any war.”
He said that radical Muslims “are out to destroy the Jewish State and kill its inhabitants” and then added, “And for me and my political party, it is not difficult to see with whom we stand in solidarity. Are we with the Jewish people, who are fighting for their existence, or are we with Islamic extremists, terrorist scum who want to exterminate them? And I tell you, until the very end, I support the State of Israel.”
Wilders’ PVV party won the elections in November but he had been unable to form a government for several months.
Last week, however, he announced that a deal had been reached to form a new government in which he would not serve as Prime Minister.
The deal brings together outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte's center-right VVD, the new NSC party and farmers' protest party BBB in a coalition with a strong majority of 88 seats in the 150-seat Lower House.
Wilders, a staunch supporter of Israel, is also known for his tough views on Islam, with his party having previously vowed to close mosques and “ban the Quran” in its manifesto.
His stance against Islam has in the past sparked outrage around the Muslim world and prompted death threats that have led to him living under round-the-clock protection.
In 2015, Wilders caused a storm in his country after he announced plans to broadcast cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, the founder of Islam, on national television.