Persecution of Non-Muslims (Netherlands)

Note that the persecution of apostates and the persecution of homosexuals are covered in separate pages

"Joking is fine, but such attacks in front of children, that's going too far." Muslim teenagers attack Santa in front of little children, knocking off his bishop's miter and ripping off his beard

A cluster of small children was serenading St. Nicholas, the European ancestor of Santa Claus, when a group of teen-agers rushed up to him, knocked off his bishop's miter and ripped off his beard. The incident forced the holy man to flee by car, when everyone knows he travels by horse.

"It was really a sad moment," said St. Nicholas, who when not dressed for the part is a schoolteacher named Johan. He had recovered his nerve, donned the robes and miter, and was back out on the street, touring a neighborhood in Amsterdam. "Joking is fine, but such attacks in front of children, that's going too far."

Sinterklaas, as he is known here, has been a fixture of Dutch culture since the Middle Ages, and in Amsterdam he is the patron saint. His feast day, Dec. 6, is a national event, and the celebrations, songs and parades in his honor start as early as mid-November, when the saint arrives by boat from Spain, along with his white horse and black pageboy.

He appears in every town, stopping in schools, hospitals and even homes and, like Santa, he delivers presents. But being a bishop, he is a bit more solemn than Santa, and often carries a big book with notes about the naughty habits of some children.
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Sinterklaas, alias Johan, said the teen-agers who had ripped off his beard the other day were the sons of Moroccan immigrants. He said the boys were wedged between two cultures. Their school, like every Dutch school, celebrates the St. Nicholas feast day with songs, presents and a visit from the holy man. But at home, their Muslim parents dismiss the festivities as nonsense.
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The historical St. Nicholas lived in the fourth century, and was a beloved bishop of Myra, in today's Turkey. After astonishing miracles were attributed to him around the Mediterranean, his bones were taken to Italy. Later his fame crossed the Alps and spread over Northern Europe. Dutch settlers took their Sinterklaas tradition to America, where he merged with the English Father Christmas and became Santa Claus.

Saint Nicholas receiving cold shoulder in Netherlands
Marlise Simons, The New York Times, December 15, 1996

Film director shot 8 times and almost decapitated in broad daylight in Amsterdam. 2 knives plunged into his dead body, one of them with a letter attached, threatening Western governments, Jews and an ex-Muslim politician

Mohammed Bouyeri murdered Van Gogh as he was cycling to work in the early morning of 2 November 2004, in front of the Amsterdam East borough office (stadsdeelkantoor), on the corner of the Linnaeusstraat and Tweede Oosterparkstraat (52°21′32.22″N 4°55′34.74″E). The killer shot van Gogh eight times with an HS 2000 handgun, and Van Gogh died on the spot. The killer also tried to decapitate van Gogh with one knife, and stabbed him in the chest with another. The two knives were left implanted; one attached a five-page note to his body. The note threatened Western countries, Jews and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (who went into hiding). The note also referred to the ideologies of the Egyptian organization Takfir wal-Hijra.

The suspect, Mohammed Bouyeri, a 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan citizen, was apprehended by the police after a chase and being shot in the leg. Bouyeri has alleged terrorist ties with the Dutch Hofstad Network. He was charged with the attempted murder of several police officers and bystanders, illegal possession of a firearm, and conspiring to murder others, including Hirsi Ali. He was convicted on 26 July 2005 and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.

The murder sparked a storm of outrage throughout the Netherlands. Flowers, notes, drawings, and other expressions of mourning were left at the scene of the murder.

Theo van Gogh (film director)
Wikipedia, November 3, 2011

“Do not think you are safe, because we will catch you and cut your ugly head off,” politician addressed as a “ugly dog” receives death threat in his mailbox. He is one of several to be accorded 24 hour police protection

The Dutch press had played its role, refusing to allow the government to run a replay of their supine behavior at the time of Fortuyn’s murder. At first there was the denial that the killer was connected to Islam, then the denial he was part of a terrorist group, then the paranoia that Muslims fear for their life now because of this celebrated anti-Muslim backlash that never happens. And some Muslims were bold enough to justify the killing because Van Gogh had been asking for it by attacking Islam and provoking Muslims to kill him.

But this time round, the Dutch press wasn’t having it. De Telegraaf newspaper said "lenient immigration policies had turned an open society into a "resentful and intolerant" one. "Afraid of being called racist, we have been so tolerant with regard to these religious fascists that they have been allowed to merrily undermine the roots of our freedom," it said.

Yet 24 hours after the gruesome and repellent murder of Van Gogh, Geert Wilders, a democratically elected representative of the Dutch people in parliament received a note in his mailbox addressed to him as “ugly dog”. It told him he would soon be beheaded. “Do not think you are safe, because we will catch you and cut your ugly head off.” Wilders, who had been planning to form a party to tackle “the Islamic problem” now also has 24-hour police protection. There is apparently one more Dutch politician, besides Hirsi Ali and Wilders, who has now been accorded 24 hour police protection. Outside parliament, a Dutch TV chat show host has also been given protection. And the mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen has also now been put on the hit list, as has the deputy mayor, fellow Muslim Ahmed Aboutaleb.

Dutch Death
Alexis Amory, FrontPageMagazine, November 09, 2004

17-year old Turkish student shoots a teacher in the head at point blank range. Other students rally near the school with photos and banners to support the killer

This week The Netherlands had its first Columbine-like experience. A disgruntled 17-year old pupil walked into the school’s cafeteria and shot a teacher at point blank range in the head, apparently for being suspended from school. The teacher died hours later and the country is in a state of shock because, and forgive me my fellow Dutch readers but I have to write this, a large portion of the Dutch population still has that dreamlike notion that “things like this don’t happen in The Netherlands”. Well, they do and the occurrence of violence and gun ownership in a country with one of the world’s most restrictive gun laws is rapidly increasing. I was not planning to write about this, until I heard last night that a number of students rallied near the school with photos and banners to support the killer, who on the day of the murder had turned himself in to police. It reminded me of this desecration, and it didn’t take long to figure out that the horrific murder of a teacher, father and respected city councilor had some ethnic undertones:

The killing and Thursday rally are certain to heighten ethnic tensions in the Netherlands. While the Dutch media does not publish the full names of suspects, or for that matter convicted criminals, publications have not been slow to point out the boy in this case is of Turkish extraction. Fear within a large segment of the public about "ethnic crime" and the perceived lack of integration by immigrants are at fever pitch in the Netherlands.

The gruesome murder is disturbing, yet the fact that many youths have rallied to the support of murderer tells us something about the serious level of disconnection between the Dutch and disgruntled immigrant groups who have failed to integrate economically, socially and morally. On the contrary, I have read many interviews with Muslim youths (second generation, born in Holland and fluent in Dutch) who claimed that while on the surface they look as if they had culturally adapted, they remained angry Muslims inside, bitter with their direct environment and depressed about their future economic prospects. A quick tour of Dutch news sites and message boards revealed as much, with comments from angry Muslim youths who felt that the killing was justified given the marginalized position of Muslim immigrants in The Netherlands. In a week where one of the main political parties acknowledged that integration policies had failed miserably, the murder of a teacher and the distasteful disrespect shown thereafter, illustrates that simple integration models don’t work and that a complete pan-European effort is required to stem the tide of economic misery and senseless violence. If Europeans don’t act themselves other groups will be more than happy to tap into the discontent among Muslim youth.

Deliberate and distasteful disrespect
Pieter Dorsman, Peaktalk, January 16, 2004

"Geert Wilders will die", police officer knifed, journalists attacked, bus drivers threatened and robbed, the city of Gouda terrorized by Muslim Moroccans

A police officer was knifed this weekend in Gouda. As well, journalists continue to be attacked. But the municipality continues to claim that all is quiet.

Gouda hit the national news when drivers of bus company Connexxion went on strike last week. They refused to drive through the Oosterwei district any more because they say they are continually threatened and robbed there by Moroccan youths.

After the mayor announced the equipping of the buses with cameras, the drivers resumed their service reluctantly. On the very same evening, a TV crew was robbed and assaulted. The municipality then decided to ask the media not to come to Gouda any more.

Last Friday, Labour (PvdA) Mayor Wim Cornelis announced that calm had returned to his town. But last weekend, a 19 year old police officer in training was knifed. The knifing took place in Achterwillens district, near Oosterwei.

The officer was off-duty and in civilian clothes. He was slightly wounded in the knifing but has since returned home. Police arrested a suspect on Sunday evening. But in consultation with the Public Prosecutor's Office, he has already been released. The authorities are refusing to say whether the suspect is a Moroccan.

Raja Felgata, presenter of TV programme Goedemorgen Nederland was robbed in Oosterwei when she wanted to see with her own eyes how things were going in the district, De Telegraaf newspaper reported yesterday. Felgata is in fact herself Moroccan.

In Korte Akkeren, another district in Gouda, a graffiti text was sprayed declaring 'Geert Wilders will die: 1 December.' Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV), recently proposed withdrawing Dutch soldiers from Afghanistan and deploying them in Gouda.

Gouda council continues to claim that it is all a matter of small incidents. "It is very unpleasant of course, but a knifing is too big a word," said a spokesman for the police on the knifing of his colleague. "The knife only caught his buttock."

Policeman Knifed, Municiality Still Insists Gouda is Quiet
NIS News, September 23, 2008

Four Moroccan teenagers aged 14-15 arrested for firebombing the Vaste Burcht Reformed church in Gouda

Four teenagers of Moroccan origin were arrested Saturday evening for setting fire to the Vaste Burcht Reformed church in Gouda.

A Molotov cocktail was thrown at the door of the church, according to the police. The bottom part of the door and the doormat were damaged.

The four Gouda residents, three aged 14 and one aged 15, are suspected of arson. The fire was reported at 5:45pm and the directions given by the reporter led to the residence of one of them, where three youth were arrested. The 15 year old suspect was arrested later that evening.

Three of the suspects spent the night in jail. They will appear in court Tuesday. A 14 year old was released after interrogation since there was no evidence of his involvement. The police is continuing with the investigation.

A spokesperson of the church said that there are often fights there but this is the first time a Molotov cocktail was thrown at them. The administrator of the church said that they had windows broken in in the past which they put down to street youth.

The parishioners were informed of the events and were told that the police and mayor are taking the case seriously.

Sources: Trouw, Telegraaf, AD (Dutch)

Gouda: Church firebombed
Europe News, November 24, 2008

Shops forced to close and rock concert canceled after caller warns of attack. Seven Dutch-Moroccans arrested on suspicion of "preparing for the commission of crimes with a terrorist objective"

Dutch police arrested seven people Thursday on suspicion of planning a "terrorist" attack in Amsterdam after a threat that caused shop closures and the cancellation of a rock concert.

The seven -- six men and a woman between the ages of 19 and 64 -- "are suspected of preparing for the commission of crimes with a terrorist objective," Amsterdam police spokeswoman Charmain van Damme told AFP.

All of the suspects have dual Dutch and Moroccan citizenship, and one was related to a suspect in the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800, said another spokeswoman, Hanane Lechkar.

Earlier, police commissioner Bernard Welten told a news conference in the capital that police received a telephone call on Wednesday night "warning that three men were planning to carry out an attack with explosives in Amsterdam."

The call came from Brussels and named home furnishing retailers Ikea among other large stores to be targeted.

Following up on the information, police on Thursday morning prevented dozens of shops, a movie theatre and the Ikea store from opening their doors to the public "to prevent any explosives from entering," said Welten.

Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen told journalists that Wednesday's call had warned of "an action with the aim of claiming casualties in busy places.

"We couldn't take any risks," he said about the closure of shops, adding that "we do not yet have sufficient information to lift" the security measures.

The officials would not say anything about the caller's motives or the veracity of the threat.

A police statement earlier said the threat, which it said "should be taken seriously" had caused an appearance by American band The Killers at the Heineken Music Hall to be postponed.

Dozens of shops remained closed throughout the day. Most had not yet opened their doors in the morning when the area was closed off. Several employees were evacuated.

Wim Kok, a spokesman for the office of the national anti-terrorism coordinator, told AFP there was no reason to raise the terror alert.

Janna Langlere, a promoter for the Arena Boulevard affected by the closure, said the threat was received by Ikea in the morning, apparently aimed at all "megastores."

"This is a lost business day. We have had telephone calls about claims for damages (by shop owners), and it is being looked into."

Seven arrests after Amsterdam 'terrorist' threat
AFP, March 12, 2009

Possibly for the first time in Western Europe since World War II, a synagogue service is canceled due to threats believed to be related to the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" raid

The synagogue in Weesp cancelled its service last Saturday after the police informed members about threats received. The threats are believed to be related to the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla. The chairman of the Jewish community in the town which is Masorti (i.e. Conservative) Nicky Cohen said that the synagogue has standard security but in this case it possibly would not have been sufficient. (Comment: This is probably the first time since World War II that a synagogue service had to be entirely cancelled in Western Europe. In 2006 in the Swedish town of Malmö once a service could not take place in the synagogue but it was then moved elsewhere.).

[Source: Synagoge schrapt viering sabbat na dreiging - NRC.NL, June 9, 2010]

Weesp: Synagogue Service Cancelled Due to Threats
Bad News Blogger, June 10, 2010

In response to frequent violent attacks against Jews by Moroccan immigrants, Dutch police may go undercover as Haredi Jews to tackle "aggressive anti-Semitism among Muslims in Amsterdam"

Dutch police may employ undercover agents disguised as religious Jews to expose and arrest violent anti-Semites, a police spokesperson said last week.

The initiative was first proposed by a Dutch Muslim legislator in response to reports of frequent attacks against Jews by Moroccan immigrants. Prominent figures from the country’s Jewish community said they supported the plan.

Over the past few years, Dutch politicians have been debating the use of undercover police officers posing as gay couples as a means to draw out serial perpetrators of attacks against gays, from the Muslim community and from the general population.

In a radio interview on Wednesday for Radio BNR, Ahmed Marcouch – a Moroccan-born member of Labor who immigrated to Holland when he was 10 – said: “I say send fake Jews to arrest the attackers. Everything must be done to keep this phenomenon from growing. It seems like small incidents, but this is serious.”

The Center for Information and Documentation Israel, an influential nongovernmental watchdog on anti-Semitism, announced on Thursday that it supported the initiative. "It has become common for Jews to hide their skull-caps on the street," said Ronny Naftaniel, who heads the center, known in Holland by its initials, CIDI. He added that Marchouch’s “liberal views have cost him in the past the support of voters from the Moroccan community.”

During the first month of 2009, the center documented 98 anti-Semitic incidents, which almost equaled the total of such attacks in 2008. Holland’s chief rabbi, Binyamin Jacobs, told Haaretz he recently witnessed unidentified persons who tried to disrupt a memorial service for Jews murdered in the Holocaust by shouting Nazi slogans.

"The new initiative is the expression of desperation about the failure of Dutch police to make progress with regard to the widespread and aggressive anti-Semitism among Muslims in Amsterdam – a heritage left behind by Amsterdam’s former mayor, Job Cohen," said Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, a Dutch-Israeli researcher of anti-Semitism and chairman of the Board of Fellows of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

Marcouch entered parliament as candidate 15 on Labor’s list under the party’s chairman, Job Cohen. Marcouch told Haaretz that he believed the best way to fight anti-Semitism among Muslim immigrants was by putting greater emphasis on Holocaust studies in schools with many immigrant pupils.

"Hate and anti-Semitism is sometimes can be addressed together through education," explained Marcouch, a leading member in the Jewish-Moroccan Network of Amsterdam – a forum which CIDI and Cohen helped create in 2006 to promote dialog between the two communities.

"It is in the family that one needs to be alert, and to eliminate anti-Semitism," Marcouch added. "And the way to do this is through education about what hatred of the other can lead to. Strong police intervention is important because no one must suffer violence, but in parallel we need to inform children so they don't harbor anti-Semitic feelings."

Are Dutch police going undercover as Haredi Jews?
Cnaan Liphshiz, Haaretz, June 20, 2010

“For ten years now Jews who are recognizable as such from their clothing can’t walk peacefully on the street,” dirty looks, insults, and Nazi salutes; Muslim Jew hatred in Amsterdam caught on hidden camera

A hidden-camera video showing Jews being harassed on the street in a Moroccan neighborhood of Amsterdam has led Dutch authorities to consider combating hate crimes with "decoy Jews" — undercover police officers wearing yarmulkes.
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For the video, two youths and a Rabbi wearing yarmulkes went walking in a primarily Moroccan neighborhood in Amsterdam. The footage showed them quickly being subjected to a range of ill-treatment, from dirty looks to insults — and even, from one man, a Nazi salute.

Dutch may use 'decoy Jews' to fight racism
MSNBC, June 25, 2010

Reports of increased anti-Semitism and a secret video showing Jews harassed on the street in Amsterdam have prompted Dutch authorities to consider using "decoy Jews" -- undercover officers wearing yarmulkes -- to combat hate crimes.

No decision has yet been made to use the tactic. But the country's justice minister and Amsterdam's acting mayor both say they are considering it. And advocacy groups say intimidation has become a serious issue for Jews in the Netherlands.

"For ten years now Jews who are recognizable as such from their clothing can't walk peacefully on the street," the Center for Information and Documentation Israel, a Jewish activist group, said in a statement Friday. "The perpetrators of this kind of incident almost always get away unpunished."

Dutch May Use 'Decoy Jews' to Fight Rising Anti-Semitism
Fox News, June 25, 2010

Group of ten Dutch-Moroccan Muslim youths throw stones at a Santa Claus in the southwestern Slotervaart neighborhood of Amsterdam, where more than 30% of the population is Moroccan and another 20% is Turkish

Sinterklaas was previously robbed in Utrecht, later on he Packet night in Amsterdam New West face rellende Moroccans.

St. Peter and arrived in the Overschie Street in Slotervaart. When they got out of their car, they heard voices and suddenly they saw a group of about ten Moroccan boys, aged from 15 to 18 years old.

St. assaulted in Slotervaart
NUjij, December 7, 2011 (machine translated)

Sharia4Holland Spokesman makes death threats against Dutch political leader during a speech in Amsterdam, warns that he will be "dealt with" like the "dog" Theo van Gogh once the Netherlands becomes an Islamic state

Police in Amsterdam have arrested the spokesperson of the Islamist group Sharia4Holland on charges of making death threats against the Dutch Freedom Party leader, Geert Wilders.

Abu Qasim was arrested after a speech he gave in Amsterdam's central Dam Square on May 25 (video in Dutch here), when he warned that Wilders would be "dealt with" once the Netherlands became an Islamic state.

Qasim also called Wilders "this dog of the Romans" and -- referring to the Dutch filmmaker and Islam critic who was murdered by a Dutch-Moroccan Muslim in 2004 -- warned that Wilders should learn lessons from "the case of Theo van Gogh."

Amsterdam's multiculturally-minded police initially refused to intervene in the case. Although making death threats is a criminal offense in Holland, police instead arrested a passer-by who tried to challenge the Sharia4Holland speaker.

Qasim was not arrested until three days after the event, after local politician Robert Flos, speaking on AT5 television, asked Amsterdam's left-wing mayor, Eberhard van der Laan, why city police did not intervene when Qasim threatened Wilders with death.

Qasim, a 29-year-old Islamist who lives in the central Dutch city of Woerden, is now scheduled to appear in court on July 11.

Sharia4Holland -- and its Siamese twin Sharia4Belgium -- is a radical Muslim movement that wants to impose Islamic Sharia law in the Netherlands, Belgium and the rest of Europe. Over the past several months, Sharia4Holland and Sharia4Belgium have become increasingly belligerent in their appeals to fellow Muslims to overthrow the democratic order in Europe.

Dutch Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten, in testimony to the Dutch Parliament on May 29, said that radical Muslims are becoming more provocative and activist and "there is a risk that Sharia4Holland supporters could cross the line and use violence."

In December 2011, the Dutch Intelligence Service AIVD said it was concerned about the rapid radicalization of Sharia4Holland. AIVD issued the advisory after Sharia4Belgium released a video in which the Belgian Islamist Sheik Abu Imran (aka Fouad Belkacem, who is Sharia4Belgium's main spokesman) declared that the black flag of Islamic Jihad will "soon be flying on top of all the palaces in Europe."

"Islam to Topple Man-made Democracy"
Soeren Kern, Family Security Matters, May 31, 2012

Another Muslim no-go area where 2 Moroccan males severely beat and hospitalize 2 young non-Muslim girls, Moroccans severely beat and hospitalize 2 non-Muslim men, and Moroccans almost kick to death a Swede

Non-Western immigrants have created a no-go area in the bar and restaurant district of the town. The latest incident concerns the severe beating of two girls (18 and 15) by two Moroccans after they refused to give the boys a cigarette. They were both hospitalized.

In May, a 30-year old Swede was almost kicked to death by Moroccan men. In April, Moroccan youngsters beat two men so severely that they had to be hospitalized.

Weer mishandeling in Hilversum (English translation)
De Telegraaf (Dutch), August 7, 2012

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