Firebrand pol under fire for suggesting Palestinians be relocated

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Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders is facing condemnation from multiple Arab states after suggesting that the war between Hamas and Israel could be remedied if Palestinians are relocated to Jordan.

“Jordan is Palestine!” Wilders tweeted Saturday, linking to a Politico story that detailed how Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Yemen and the Arab League issued statements to condemn the suggestion that Palestinians should be relocated to Jordan.

The Palestinian Authority said Wilders’ proposal is “a call to escalate the aggression against our people and a blatant interference in their affairs and future.” While the UAE embassy in the Netherlands called Wilders’ suggestion “irresponsible,” leaders in Jordan labeled the suggestion a “racist position,” Arab News reported.

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“Jordan rejects any proposal that undermines the rights of the Palestinian people or their quest for an independent state,” Jordan’s foreign minister said of Wilders’ position. “We remain committed to a two-state solution with east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, in accordance with international consensus.”

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Jordan, along with other Arab states such as Egypt, said last month it would not accept any Palestinian refugees amid the war over reported fears that Israel wants to permanently remove Palestinians from Gaza into other nations, as well as concern that militants could be among refugees, Reuters reported.

“No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt,” Jordan’s King Abdullah II said last month.

Geert Wilders casts his vote in the Dutch general election, Nov. 22, 2023, in The Hague, Netherlands. (Getty Images )

“Jordan indeed is Palestine, I already spoke about it many years ago in Israel in 2010,” Wilders told Fox News Digital in an emailed comment Sunday. He linked to a news article from 2010 in which he detailed his argument that Jordan should be renamed Palestine.

“Changing its name to Palestine will end the conflict in the Middle East and provide the Palestinians with an alternate homeland,” he said at the time.

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from southern Israel toward the Gaza Strip on Nov. 6, 2023. (AP Photo / Ohad Zwigenberg)

Wilders said he repeated the same argument from years ago “and Arab nations complained again and stronger, I guess because I won the Dutch national elections last week.”

“I always said that relocation should be voluntary not compulsory. But I would applaud a massive voluntary relocation indeed,” Wilders continued in his comment to Fox.

Wilders, dubbed in the media as the “Dutch Donald Trump,” is the leader and founder of the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom, which saw a massive election win last week that positions Wilders to form the next ruling party and potentially become the country’s next prime minister.

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“I had to pinch my arm,” Wilders said after the surprising election results, the Times of Israel reported. Wilders has only once before come close to governing the Netherlands when he supported the first coalition formed by Prime Minister Mark Rutte in 2010. 

The Dutch politician is a noted supporter of Israel, including displaying the Israeli flag in his office after Hamas’ attacks on the nation on Oct. 7.

Geert Wilders casts his ballot in The Hague, Netherlands, on Nov. 22, 2023. (AP Photo / Mike Corder)

He has also championed closing the Netherlands’ borders to immigrants, called for a referendum on the Netherlands leaving the European Union, has been labeled anti-Islamic, and he faced death threats over a handful of previous statements, including calling Islam a “fascist ideology” and a “backward religion” and arguing Muhammad was a “pedophile,” Reuters reported.  

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“The Netherlands can’t take it anymore,” he said during a debate ahead of the election. “We have to think about our own people first now, borders closed, zero asylum-seekers.”

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz contributed to this report.