Motion to Ban Muslim Brotherhood Passed in Dutch Parliament
The Dutch House of Commons has approved a motion led by populist figure Geert Wilders, advocating for a ban on the Muslim Brotherhood and its “affiliated organizations.” This comes amid heightened concerns over perceived Muslim influence in Europe.
Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV) have made several attempts to push this motion in the past, but they had all been unsuccessful until now. On Tuesday, the motion gained traction in The Hague after the Christian Union and the centrist 50 Plus party reversed their earlier stance against it.
Support also came from the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the Peasant Citizen Movement (BBB), and the right-wing populist Forum for Democracy (FVD), in addition to other minor parties. However, the motion passed with only 76 votes, a small margin short of a majority, according to reports from De Telegraaf.
This motion calls for the government to outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood and its “Dutch affiliates.” It was prompted by a concerning French government report from last year that highlighted a long-term effort by Islamist groups to infiltrate various European institutions, intending to destabilize Western influences and implement Sharia law.
This decision in the Netherlands mirrors a recent vote in the French National Assembly, where a non-binding resolution urged the European Commission to classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist entity.
Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department designated the Sudanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization, citing their severe violence against civilians aimed at furthering their violent Islamist ideology. They noted that many fighters associated with the group had training connections to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and were involved in mass civilian executions.
The Trump administration had also announced investigations into various branches of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt late last year, considering them for terrorist classifications.
Before the recent vote, Wilders emphasized the alarming demographic changes in the Netherlands, noting the influx of over a million non-Western immigrants in the last decade. He expressed concern about the growing visibility of religious symbols and the troubling rise in anti-Semitism, describing it as a grave issue for the nation.
However, it remains unclear if the liberal coalition government, spearheaded by Prime Minister Rob Jetten of D66, the Netherlands’ first openly gay leader, will act on this parliamentary resolution and initiate the ban on the Muslim Brotherhood.
Opponents of the motion contend that an official, recognized Muslim Brotherhood organization does not exist in the Netherlands, which raises questions about the feasibility of a ban. Similar debates are emerging regarding the potential prohibition of far-left Antifa networks that are challenging to define and regulate.
