Government Response To Van Gogh Killing Panned

American Renaissance News: "The Arab European League (AEL) went so far as to liken the appearance of Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk at a rally in Amsterdam to a �Hitler speech, with only the little mustache missing�. A Moroccan organisation has also described her speech as very negative and criticised her use of a sort �us and them� rhetoric.

The chairman of the Dutch section of the AEL, Nabil Marmouch, said for Verdonk to follow this remark with a call not to allow the situation to become more polarised was unbelievable. He accused her, along with right wing politicians Geert Wilders and Joost Eerdmans, of working to whip up “more hate”. He also said she was using the killing for her own electoral gain.

The Belgian-Dutch AEL issued a statement on Tuesday night condemning Van Gogh’s murder. Previous statements by the organisation—which says it supports the integration, but not assimilation of Arabs and Muslims into western societies—have caused widespread offence. The AEL recently said that the death of every Dutch soldier in Iraq was a victory.

Marmouch said only the person responsible for Van Gogh’s death was the person who shot him. He also claimed Van Gogh was bent on offending people and that his death had nothing to do with free speech. Meanwhile, her colleagues in the three-party coalition government have also come in for criticism. The coalition is made up of the Christian Democrat CDA, Liberal VVD and Democrat D66 parties.

D66 leader Boris Dittrich said the coalition government’s letter to Parliament following the killing raised many more questions than it answered. VVD parliamentary party leader Jozias van Aartsen agreed the letter was acquiescent and unclear on several points.

Independent conservative MP Geert Wilders said Interior Minister Johan Remkes faced a “major political problem” if he could not adequately explain why the alleged killer had not been on a list of the top 10 most dangerous people in the Netherlands. "