Members of the youth division for the right-wing Forum for Democracy dismissed after anti-Semitic and homophobic messages

The board of the youth arm of the right-wing party of the Forum for Democracy (JFvD) expelled some of its members on Saturday because they were involved in sharing anti-Semitic and homophobic messages in app groups.

Newspaper Het Parool reported on Saturday that it had obtained screenshots of anti-Semitic and homophobic statements made by members of JFvD in WhatsApp groups and Instagram posts.

Various members have shown to be sympathetic towards Nazi ideologies. According to the newspaper, a 23-year-old student, who was recently appointed as the coordinator of the Zuid-Holland branch of the party, said that “Jews have international pedo networks and help women en masse into pornography” and “National Socialism contains the best economic formula ever.”

The JFvD board says that it was shocked by the findings and that they had spoken extensively with the members involved. “I want to emphasize that racist and anti-Semitic ideas have no place in our association. We stand behind the election program of the FvD and therefore not behind the things with which we are now associated,” said JFvD head Freek Jansen. In April, members of the JFvD had already been accused of “right-wing radical thinking.” At the time, a report submitted to HP/De Tijd found that its members had been expressing “authoritarian, fascist and/or National Socialist ideas.”

It is unclear how many members were dismissed. The party’s youth division has also promised to investigate the distribution of the messages further. The JFvD board has asked Paul Cliteur, Olaf Ephraim, and Wybren van Haga to investigate the matter.