An obvious understatement: Hizb ut-Tahrir “potentially also has the opportunity to promote its polarising and activist message in Dutch higher education.” Dealing with HuT’s presence — or potential presence — on Dutch campuses should be a much more urgent priority than this report implies it is. Many campus groups have “polarizing and activist messages.” HuT’s is decidedly more virulent.
“Terrorist Threat for Netherlands Remains ‘Substantial’,” from NIS News, June 23:
THE HAGUE, 23/06/09 – The terrorist threat level for the Netherlands remains ‘substantial.’ The chances of an attack are still realistic, said the National Anti-terrorism Coordinator (NCTb) yesterday in its 10th quarterly report since it was set up.
“As reported earlier, international Jihadist groupings see the Netherlands and its interests as one of their ‘priority targets,’ due to its military involvement in Afghanistan and the alleged insults to Islam in the Netherlands,” according to the NCTb. “There have however been no concrete indications in the latest reporting period of attacks against (interests of) the Netherlands.”
The likelihood of a Jihadist attack on Dutch interests is currently highest abroad. “The large majority of the Dutch local Jihadist networks are in a period of relative quiet or are concentrating their activities abroad.”
In the latest reporting period, “no travel movements of Jihadists have been established from the Netherlands to training camps” abroad. “There are indications that in the past, a very limited number of persons from the Netherlands travelled to the Pakistan-Afghanistan region to participate in the international Jihad. There are no reasons to date to assume that (one of) these persons has meanwhile returned to the Netherlands.”
Within the Netherlands, “the radical Islamic organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) is trying to expand its influence,” according to NCTb. “It is noteworthy here that the Amsterdam Islamic student association Al Furqan offers a platform for the HuT. This means that the latter potentially also has the opportunity to promote its polarising and activist message in Dutch higher education.”