Racist Geert Wilders' 'Jordan is Palestine' remarks spark outrage

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
26 Nov 2023 10:23
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Following his party's victory in the Dutch parliamentary elections, Geert Wilders has called for the displacement of Palestinians to Jordan, resulting in international condemnations.

Leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV) Geert Wilders delivers a speech at a post-election meeting at the Nieuwspoort conference center in The Hague, The Netherlands, on November 23, 2023 (AFP)

Hamas, the Palestinian Authority (PA), Jordan, and the Arab League condemned statements made by far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who said that "Jordan is Palestine", clearly indicating that Palestinians should be forcibly displaced to neighboring Jordan.

Jordan is Palestine!

Arab states condemn Wilders for push to relocate Palestinians to Jordan https://t.co/U6JjdOk0IK
— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) November 25, 2023

Hamas on Saturday condemned the "racist statement of the Dutch extremist Geert Wilders," as quoted by Anadolu Agency.

The Palestinian Resistance movement stressed that Wilders' remarks are "fascist and go in line with the plots of the Nazi-Zionist occupation, in a deluded attempt to displace our people from their land and their Islamic and Christian sanctities."

"Our people will remain steadfast in their legitimate struggle against the occupation its dissolution [is achieved], and to achieve their national aspirations of a Palestinian state, whose capital city is al-Quds, despite the aspirations of neo-Nazis."

On its part, the PA emphasized that the statements are "a call to escalate the aggression against our people and a blatant interference in their affairs and future," the official Palestine News and Information Agency (WAFA) reported.

Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ayman al-Safadi, also mobilized to condemn Wilders' statements, by holding a phone call with his Dutch counterpart, Hanke Bruins Slot, expressing his country's rejection of the statements made by the far-right Dutch Member of Parliament.

Al-Safadi said that the comments "hold no value and no effect", adding that they are "absurd, extremist, and racist" and that they "expose [Wilders'] racism, which is derived from a disgusting culture of hatred."

Geert Wilders: A staunch Zionist

This is not the first time, Wilders voices Zionist propaganda and calls for the displacement of the Palestinian people. However, Saturday's remarks hold greater value, as Wilders Freedom Party (PVV) won the highest number of seats in parliament (37 seats) significantly leading ahead of the incumbent Prime Minister's Freedom and Democracy party (24 seats).

Previously in 2010, Wilders had said "Jordan is Palestine," as reported by the Israeli news website Ynet. At that time, PVV was the third-largest party in the Netherlands.

Wilders went on to say that Jordan should change its name to Palestine and become an "alternate homeland" for Palestinians, a view expressed by Israeli extremists.

However, his racist comments were not limited to Palestine, as he then went on an Islamophobic rant to justify his genocidal ideas.

"If [al-Quds] falls into the hands of the Muslims, Athens and Rome will be next. Thus, [al-Quds] is the main front protecting the West. It is not a conflict over territory but rather an ideological battle, between the mentality of the liberated West and the ideology of Islamic barbarism," Wilders said.

"There has been an independent Palestinian state since 1946, and it is the kingdom of Jordan," Wilders reiterated.