"Thought police": CDA leader under fire

CDA leader Sybrand Buma was under fire in the Second Chamber today when he proposed to make the glorification of terrorism punishable. In the debate on the governments plans to tackle jihadism and radicalization, D66 leader Alexander Pechtold accused Buma of wanting a "thought police", AD.nl reports. Bruma said that it was not his intention to propose making thoughts punishable. He wants to be against extremist expressions, such as the demonstrations that occurred in the Hague, in which the actions of the terrorist movement ISIS were cheered. Ministers Lodewijk Asscher (Social Affairs) and Ivo Opstelten (Security and Justice) presented a package of action points to better fight radicalization last week. Among other things they want to be able to confiscate jihad goers' passports without court intervention. According to Buma the Cabinet jumped into action too late. He wants the cutbacks in the intelligence service's AIVD to be reversed. The Christian Union pointed at that in the previous governing period the CDA supported cutbacks in the AIVD. PVV leader Geert Wilders felt that the Cabinet took to weak an action against Muslim terrorism, referring to the "ostrich brigade of Rutt II".