Wilders’ anti-Islam akin to anti-semitism

Entertainment entrepreneur Harry de Winter has taken out a page-wide advert on the front page of Monday’s Volkskrant newspaper accusing MP Geert Wilders of racism.

“If Wilders said the same about Jews and the Old Testament as he does about Muslims (and the Koran) he would have been long picked up and sentenced for anti-semitism,” the advert reads. The advert is signed by the foundation “Another Jewish voice”, which De Winter helped found.

In an interview with the paper, De Winter says that Wilders’ approach to Islam is like the build-up of anti-Jewish sentiment before World War II. “I see no difference between a skull-cap (worn by Jewish men) and a headscarf,” De Winter said. “I hope we get support from across the Jewish community because they should recognise this like no-one else.”

Dutch News, 17 March 2008

For Wilders’ recent speech to the Dutch parliament (“The Koran is above all a book of war – a call to butcher non-Muslims”), see PVV website.