A translation of a story from De Telegraaf, courtesy CAGE News:
THE HAGUE – the Government of the Netherlands estimates that there are approximately 10 to 25 mosques where extremist sermons are being preached. The cabinet currently does not have any specific action plan against it nor is it possible to take any action using current laws. In this case the Dutch government has only an option of improving and exploiting the existing possibilities, such as withdrawing subsidies or residence permits of imams.
The Minister of Home Affairs Remkes revealed this information on Wednesday during the debate in the House of Commons concerning terrorism. The House of Commons has been pressing hard for an action against radical imams and mosques lately in order to reduce radicalism in the country. The parties, mostly the VVD and LPF, are very disappointed concerning the results. “A mosque has not yet been dissolved or an imam turned off,” said a VVD member Griffith.
Remkes has specifically noted that it is in numerous mosques across the Netherlands where hatred is being sown and where imams preach anti-Western and anti-Semitic sermons.
The Minister of Justice Donner also suggested that the government should work to discourage the dissemination of hate on the Internet. The chamber supported this initiative unanimously. The government is planning on launching a system that would compare the beginnings of the words it encounters on various bulletin boards with the “blacklisted” words in its database and in case of a match report on the specific websites.
According to Remkes, the assassination of Theo van Gogh has exposed a real picture of the extremist threat in the country. Through united efforts of various levels of the government the seriousness of the threat has been reduced lately, but no decisive action with regard to extremists has been taken yet. He added that many radical individuals and groups are still functioning across Holland.
Meanwhile, various parties insisted on an increase in the tempo of implementation of the promises delivered by the government. According to the parties’ representatives, there are too many words, and too little action. “It (the implementation) is not visible,” said MP Griffith of the VVD party. The parties themselves have engaged in seeking solutions to the problems concerning religious extremism. Two MPs representing the AVID party have already promised to deliver to the Parliament the list of measures they are proposing. The party leader Van Aartsen expressed his willingness to debate on the question with other political fractions.