We tend to think and believe that the Islamic radicalization in the Netherlands has sprung out of the frustration of those to whom this liberal country has opened its gates; the Netherlands has welcomed tens of thousands of Muslim asylum seekers allegedly escaping persecution in their home countries. Immigrants availed themselves of generous welfare and housing benefits, an affirmative-action hiring policy, and free language courses. Dutch taxpayers funded Muslim mosques and religious schools, and public television broadcasts in Moroccan Arabic.
However, these "first generation" asylum seekers have sowed the seeds of a real danger which has emerged from the "second generation" immigrants.
On the surface, it seems that the "second generation" is far better assimilated into liberal, European culture, and that of the Netherlands in particular compared to their parents. Yet, it was Mohammed Bouyeri (child of Moroccan immigrants and born in Amsterdam) who brutally murdered Theo Van Gogh (descendant of the iconic Vincent Van Gogh and liberal filmmaker). Bouyeri had benefited from a Dutch-funded education in accounting and information technology and was receiving unemployment benefits.
What could have driven this "model immigrant" to take such drastic action? It became apparent that Bouyeri was heavily affected by Aljazeera's coverage of events in the Middle East, and that it was his anger over events in Palestine and sympathy towards the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood (an extreme anti-Western ideological movement) that convinced him to act. He was quoted in a community newsletter as saying "the Netherlands is now our enemy because they participate in the occupation of Iraq." Having failed to get funding for his dream of a youth center in Amsterdam and failing twice in preventing the sale of alcohol or presence of women at public events, he was recruited into the "Hofstad Group" (a terror cell of second generation Muslims in the Netherlands).
The cell met every two weeks in Bouyri's apartment to imbibe the sermons of a radical Syrian preacher-Abu Khatib. The Hofstad cell was connected to other radical groups through networks in Spain, Morocco, Italy and Belgium. It planned assassinations of Dutch politicians, an attack on the Netherlands sole nuclear reactor, and other acts throughout the country. European intelligence services have linked the cell to the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group (which is linked to the 2003 Casablanca and 2004 Madrid bombings).
Bouyeri's attack shows how Europe's emerging mujahadeen are radicalized by events occurring far from Europe and how Middle-Eastern terror organizations such as Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, are going global and influencing the "second generation" to act against their host countries and societies.
There has been a major increase in recent years in violent hate crimes in the Netherlands and the rest of Western Europe. These crimes are actually grassroot terror attacks in disguise - they have far less to do with crime and much more connection to the radical ideological war we have found ourselves drawn into by these home grown terrorists.
Radicals such as Bouyeri are self-indoctrinating under our noses, wrapping themselves in Muslim Brotherhood creed, exploiting our liberal system to raise funds for their "legitimate" establishments, banks and charities in the name of humanitarianism while in fact they wage war on our own culture and society.
However, these "first generation" asylum seekers have sowed the seeds of a real danger which has emerged from the "second generation" immigrants.
On the surface, it seems that the "second generation" is far better assimilated into liberal, European culture, and that of the Netherlands in particular compared to their parents. Yet, it was Mohammed Bouyeri (child of Moroccan immigrants and born in Amsterdam) who brutally murdered Theo Van Gogh (descendant of the iconic Vincent Van Gogh and liberal filmmaker). Bouyeri had benefited from a Dutch-funded education in accounting and information technology and was receiving unemployment benefits.
What could have driven this "model immigrant" to take such drastic action? It became apparent that Bouyeri was heavily affected by Aljazeera's coverage of events in the Middle East, and that it was his anger over events in Palestine and sympathy towards the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood (an extreme anti-Western ideological movement) that convinced him to act. He was quoted in a community newsletter as saying "the Netherlands is now our enemy because they participate in the occupation of Iraq." Having failed to get funding for his dream of a youth center in Amsterdam and failing twice in preventing the sale of alcohol or presence of women at public events, he was recruited into the "Hofstad Group" (a terror cell of second generation Muslims in the Netherlands).
The cell met every two weeks in Bouyri's apartment to imbibe the sermons of a radical Syrian preacher-Abu Khatib. The Hofstad cell was connected to other radical groups through networks in Spain, Morocco, Italy and Belgium. It planned assassinations of Dutch politicians, an attack on the Netherlands sole nuclear reactor, and other acts throughout the country. European intelligence services have linked the cell to the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group (which is linked to the 2003 Casablanca and 2004 Madrid bombings).
Bouyeri's attack shows how Europe's emerging mujahadeen are radicalized by events occurring far from Europe and how Middle-Eastern terror organizations such as Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, are going global and influencing the "second generation" to act against their host countries and societies.
There has been a major increase in recent years in violent hate crimes in the Netherlands and the rest of Western Europe. These crimes are actually grassroot terror attacks in disguise - they have far less to do with crime and much more connection to the radical ideological war we have found ourselves drawn into by these home grown terrorists.
Radicals such as Bouyeri are self-indoctrinating under our noses, wrapping themselves in Muslim Brotherhood creed, exploiting our liberal system to raise funds for their "legitimate" establishments, banks and charities in the name of humanitarianism while in fact they wage war on our own culture and society.