Search

Geert Wilders tours Samaria with regional council head

Wilders is scheduled to meet with President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Energy Minister Eli Cohen, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and other lawmakers.

By JNS

Geert Wilders, the head of the Party for Freedom, the Netherlands’ largest political faction and a member of the ruling coalition, visited Samaria on Monday morning at the invitation of the Samaria Regional Council.

Council head Yossi Dagan said that Wilders, as part of his tour of the area, received a briefing at an observation point “in the seam line area on the narrow ‘waist’ of the State of Israel, which illustrates the security importance of Samaria for the residents of the center of the country.”

Dagan told the visiting political leader: “There are only 70 kilometers [44 miles] from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, with the hills of Samaria dominating the area, accounting for 55 kilometers, [or 34 miles, of those 70 kilometers].”

Wilders responded by acknowledging that this is a “very small area,” adding, “Not everyone will understand this, but I do.”

The Dutch politician arrived in the Jewish state on Sunday for a 36-hour visit. After he touched down at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Sunday night, Wilders met with Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Gila Gamliel “and other dear friends” in Tel Aviv, he said on social media.

Read  'Netanyahu did more against terror in a year than the EU did in 70,' says Dutch MP

Wilders said he was “proud and privileged” to return to Israel after more than seven years, “meet their leaders and politicians and visit beautiful Judea and Samaria where I used to live for some time in the ’80s.”

Later on Monday, Wilders is scheduled to meet with President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Energy Minister Eli Cohen, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and other lawmakers, according to the Dutch MP.

Last month, Wilders said that he would be pursuing police action after his travel plans to Israel were leaked to the media, allegedly by Dutch civil servants, which reportedly led to the postponement of his visit.

“Today, I spoke with the Internal Investigations Department [of the Dutch police]. I will be filing a report because of the leak of my itinerary in Israel,” Wilders said.

According to him, the NRC daily reported on the confidential plan “shortly after our embassy in Israel was informed.”

“This endangers my safety, as well as that of my security guards. Totally unacceptable,” the Dutch leader concluded his statement.

Wilders has lived under strict 24/7 police protection since 2004 after receiving death threats over his criticism of Islamic terrorists and extremists.

Read  'Netanyahu did more against terror in a year than the EU did in 70,' says Dutch MP

NRC claimed that the meeting between Wilders and Dagan would run counter to the policies of Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, a member of the junior coalition partner New Social Contract Party. He supports the creation of a Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Veldkamp was scheduled to fly to Jerusalem for an official visit last month, but Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar canceled it due to the Dutch diplomat’s support for the International Criminal Court arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Wilders—a staunch supporter of Israel’s right to the entire Land of Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea—resided in the Jewish state for two years during his youth and has reportedly visited the country more than 40 times. After he graduated from secondary school, he spent a year as a volunteer at Moshav Tomer in the Jordan Valley.

In 2018, Wilders declared, “The more Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria the better, for that land is Jewish—and Jordan is Palestine!”

Following Wilders’s win in the 2023 Dutch general election, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority condemned him for saying Arabs should be offered the right to settle in Jordan and elect their government.

Hamas, which the European Union has listed as a terrorist organization, accused him of making a “fascist statement that violates international law,” and called on the United Nations to condemn his positions.

Read  'Netanyahu did more against terror in a year than the EU did in 70,' says Dutch MP

“Hamas complaining about international law,” Wilders mockingly responded in a post on X, ending with a clown emoji.