When I Met Geert Wilders

Two days ago, there was an election in The Netherlands. To the shock of all of Europe, the Party for Freedom led by Geerts Wilders won the most seats in the Dutch Parliament. 

Wilders is a right-wing populist who has reserved most of his ire towards Islam. He wants a ban on immigration from Muslim countries, ban the Koran (which he has compared to Hitler's Mein Kempf) and opposes the construction of new mosques. 

Wilders has been a member of the Dutch Parliament for 25 years and has led the Party for Freedom since 2006. But no one imagined it would be possible for Wilders to actually become the next Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

Although the Party for Freedom won more seats than any other political party, they are far short of attaining a majority. Dilan Yesilgoz, who is leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (a center-right party which had been the main ruling party), stated, "It is up to Wilders to show he can form a majority. I don't see it happening." 

Indeed, her party has formally ruled out being part of a governing coalition with Wilders at the helm. However, even if Wilders doesn't become Prime Minister, he will certainly become more powerful. And then there's always the next election whenever that might come to pass.

On a personal note, I met Geert Wilders in February 2009 when he spoke at the Ahavath Torah Congregation in Stoughton, Massachusetts, a little over 20 miles south of Boston. At the time, I was a Republican and had just begun contributing to The American Spectator although an article on Wilders would not come to pass.

Wilders was promoting his documentary short Fitna which depicted Muslims committing acts of terrorism while quoting the Koran. Wilders appearance came only a couple of weeks after he was denied entry into the U.K. despite being an elected parliamentarian from a then neighboring EU state. 

Unlike other right-wing populists, Wilders' love for Israel was unambiguous. He stated that he had visited Israel more than 25 times and had spent a year volunteering on a moshav on the West Bank. Wilders made it clear he thought little of other right-wing populists in Europe such as the National Front in France as he had done in other fora:

My allies are not [France's Jean-Mari] Le Pen or [Austria's Jorg] Haider. We'll never join up with the fascists and Mussolinis of Italy. I'm very afraid of being linked with the wrong rightist fascist groups.

But by 2013, Wilders was collaborating with Le Pen on an anti-EU bloc in the EU Parliament. 

If nothing else, Wilders is a politician. Although I did not get a chance to ask Wilders a question during the Q&A, I did meet with him following the event and asked him his thoughts about President Obama whose presidency was a little over a month old at the time. Wilders gently told me that he was a guest in the United States and did not think it appropriate to comment on American politics. 

However, by December 2016, Wilders had no problem criticizing Obama for failing to veto a UN Security Council Resolution calling for a halt to Israeli settlements. Indeed, Wilders made a point of stating, "Obama betrayed Israel. Thank God for Trump. My advise (sic) to my Israeli friends: ignore the UN and keep building more and more settlements." Of course, I suspect Wilders would likely become more circumspect on such language should he become Dutch PM.

While I believe there is a critical mass of the Muslim world which seeks to commit murder and mayhem in the name of the Koran, I don't think a democratically elected government can ban the Koran any more than one can ban the Torah or the New Testament. Most Muslims manage to go through life observing the teachings of the Koran without killing anyone. Wilders' proposal to ban the Koran is impractical and I think Wilders knows this to be true. Whether or not Wilders is the next Prime Minister of The Netherlands, I do believe the next Dutch government is going to put significant curbs on immigration and asylum from the Arab/Muslim world.

If Wilders does become Prime Minister, it will be interesting to see if he has the authoritarian impulses of Hungary's Viktor Orban. For his part, Orban praised Wilders' performance as part of the "winds of changes."  I don't think Wilders has Orban's obsession with culture war issues. Unlike Orban, Wilders is pro-LGBTQ and has long argued that Islam is a threat to the LGBTQ community.

It must be emphasized there is no guarantee that Wilders will become Dutch Prime Minister. But if he does, he doesn't give me the same sense of trepidation of an Orban or Marine Le Pen would in the event she is ever be elected President of France. 

Is it because of his friendliness towards Jews? Is it because I met him once for five minutes almost 15 years ago? Yes, on both counts.

Is it possible I could be very, very wrong? Yes, on both counts.