Skip to main content
Netherlands News in English

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
399px-Pieter_Broertjes
- Credit: Mayor of Hilversum Pieter Broertjes (Picture: Wikimedia Commons/Guido van Nispen)
Politics
Hilversum
ISIS
mayor of Hilversum
Pieter Broertjes
WWII
Thursday, 23 October 2014 - 12:38

Share this article:

Opens in a new window Opens in a new window Opens in a new window Opens in a new window Opens in a new window Opens in a new window

Mayor's remarks on Jews and jihadists sparks outrage

On Radio 1 Mayor of Hilversum Pieter Broertjes compared the situation around ISIS to the Jewish people who left for Israel after World War II. The theme of the broadcast was about possibly confiscating the passports of jihadists. In September Broertjes heard that a family with four underage children from his hometown had left for Syria to join the jihad. "You have to have a good reason to take a passport. Someone must have committed a criminal offense. And you don't know if someone is going there for war." At some point the interviewer asked him whether he is saying to let them go, let them fight it out. "It comes to adult humans. The Dutch also went to Israel after the war to fight against the British. We didn't stop them then either." Broertjes answered. On Twitter people are reacting in disgust to the comment.

Burgemeester Broertjes (PvdA) weer in opspraak. Hij vergeleek op Radio 1 ISIS met Joden die naar Israël gingen na de Tweede Wereldoorlog.

— Alexander Bakker (@alexanderbakker) October 23, 2014

Beste @pieterbroertjes, graag geeft #CIDI u geschiedenisles. #Isis terroristen vergelijken met Joden richting #Israel na WOII is ridicuul

— Esther Voet (@Esther_Voet) October 23, 2014
https://twitter.com/Louis_Bontes/status/525218216231337984

More like this

Image
Undated photograph of Bart Heller during his tenure as an alderman in Hilversum, Noord-Holland
Hilversum alderman resigns after controversy over Gaza remarks
Image
Jacques Goudstikker, a Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam, in 1938
Nazi looted painting from Goudstikker collection found in Amsterdam street trash
Image
A thunderstorm.
Storm damage claims surge after weekend of severe weather across the Netherlands
Image
People swimming in Amsterdam. June 20, 2026.
Swimming advisory issued after heavy rain overflows sewers in Amsterdam region
Make NL Times your top Google source

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • What international businesses should know about sea freight
  • Dutch gov't to allow hunters to kill 23 invasive species without provincial order
  • Nijmegen mayor not worried heat will disrupt Vierdaagse walking event
  • German man acquitted in fatal hit-and-run of 14-year-old Dutch girl
  • Microsoft data center uses 1% of all Dutch electricity

Top stories

  • OLVG hospital in Amsterdam starts trial with late abortions
  • One killed in stabbing on Roermond street; Suspect arrested
  • Netherlands to start military exercises with Ukraine, help design new air defense system
  • Ter Apel asylum center area declared safety risk zone after recent stabbings, fights
  • Suspect in ABN Amro worker's fatal stabbing also harassed four other women

© 2012-2026, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Change Privacy Settings
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Partner Content