And who, of course, immediately took advantage of the unsavory disturbances at the opening of the National Holocaust Museum to score their poor political point? To frothing at the mouth at an old political enemy, whom he will soon call “a witch” again, as he repeatedly did with Sigrid Kaag?
“It smacks of a political action by the extreme left-wing mayor of Amsterdam. Irresponsible,” Wilders wrote on X. He must have written it when he was in Hilversum negotiating the cabinet formation. “Just bullying Halsema,” he must have thought. In January, he had watched with sorrow as ‘his’ Martin Bosma sat subdued next to Halsema at the National Holocaust Remembrance Day in Amsterdam’s Wertheim Park. Bosma next to Halsema – it couldn’t get much worse. Irresponsible, for every right-wing PVV member.
At such moments, Wilders shows his true colors. He tries to hide this from view during that ridiculous display of hypocrisy called cabinet formation. Everyone at that negotiating table knows that his so-called icebox concessions are worthless, and that he will just as easily abandon them if it suits him better. Wilder’s Prime Minister? They all know it’s not possible, but no one dares to say it openly, and certainly not at that table. Wilders realizes this and that is why such an attack on Halsema is also a way to provoke his colleagues. “Here I stand, prime minister-designate, and I continue to make these kinds of statements.”
If the VVD is still seriously considering doing business with Wilders, they should pay close attention to Prime Minister Rutte’s response to Wilders’ tweet. “Dear Geert,” Rutte wrote on X, “we all wanted the opening of the National Holocaust Museum yesterday to have gone smoothly. But one thing is certain: when it comes to maintaining public order, our mayors do not engage in politics.”
I read a thinly veiled warning in this message from Rutte to his party: “Do not do business with this man, and certainly not as prime minister.”
Rutte does not rule out that mistakes were made in maintaining public order around the museum. That cannot be ruled out either. Research will have to reveal how it was possible that angry demonstrators, sometimes with anti-Semitic expressions, could get so close to the guests.
But any security failures should not be linked to this mayor’s political identity and intentions without even a semblance of evidence. That Wilders does that, and in his wake too The Telegraph (“Would the citizen be ashamed now?”) is bad and proves once again that the radical right in the Netherlands is starting to get off track. The healthy public feeling is becoming increasingly unhealthy.
The hatred that is poured out about Halsema on X these days knows no bounds anymore. “Amsterdammers were once again on the hunt for Jews. Made possible by Halsema.” “Just a bad person through and through. So you, shameless mayor in wartime.” “Get out of here quickly with that incompetent left-wing bastard.”
Thank you, dear Geert.