Amsterdam City Council party to welcome banned Palestinian activist Mohammed Khatib
The new political party De Vonk in Amsterdam has caused controversy by inviting the leader of Samidoun: the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, to the launch of their political movement, De Telegraaf reported. Mohammed Khatib has been banned from the Netherlands for his radical points of view and speeches, and will likely take part in the launch online.
De Vonk was formed by two elected council members who currently serve on the Council after leaving their former party, Bij1. Jazie Veldhuyzen and Nalib Ahmadi initially formed a faction temporarily adopting their last names, but they changed the name to De Vonk in November. An event to celebrate this will take place on January 13 at the Plantage Dok.
Samidoun is affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the European Union, the United States, Canada and Japan, and is alleged to have ties with both Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Samidoun was banned in Germany after members glorified the attack of Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Samidoun were involved in the demonstrations during the opening of the Holocaust Museum and protests at the University of Amsterdam, the Telegraaf reported. Some of these rallies involved groups of people who were accused of deliberately seeking out violent confrontation with authorities. The United States and Canada also see Samidoun as a terrorist organization.
De Vonk defended the decision to invite Khatib on Instagram. They believe his comments are not extremist but rather “weaponized resistance against colonization and foreign occupation.” They added that they feel that Palestinian resistance groups are only seen as terrorist organizations by “genocidal Western states.”
The party made the announcement on Wednesday morning, just hours before King Willem-Alexander delivered his annual Christmas Day address. He asked the country’s residents to listen to each other, and to take a more nuanced approach than polarization, with specific reference to conflicts in the Middle East.
“What we can do is ensure that the bitterness and hatred from elsewhere do not infiltrate our streets,” he said. The king spoke about interactions with Jewish students in Amsterdam who feel as though they have to hide who they are on the street, and families with Palestinian heritage who have relatives struggling in their homeland.
This year was marked by violence on Dutch streets related to escalating tensions over the Hamas attacks in Israel in October 2023 and Israel’s extreme and relentless retaliation. It included protests on university campuses that ended in violent confrontations, and also the hunting down of Israeli and Jewish football fans following the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv Europa League match in Amsterdam.
“Solving the major world problems and the bitter conflicts elsewhere is beyond our power. But does that make us powerless? No, it definitely does not!” the king stated. “Because what we can do is ensure that we do not import bitterness and hatred into our streets. Resilience against everything that drives us apart.”
Khatib had previously spoken at the University of Wageningen and the University of Nijmegen before he was banned from entering the country. He is currently appealing this ban, and De Vonk said it expects him to win this appeal before the event takes place.
Daan Wijnants, chairman of the VVD in the council, has said that if De Vonk does not revoke their invitation to Khatib, the mayor and Cabinet should intervene. JA21 Council Member Kevin Kreuger also stated that the mayor should get involved.
His party colleague Cas van Berkel said that De Vonk inviting Khatib says a lot about the party’s viewpoints. “This organization apparently represents their ideology. This means that violence is not shunned to serve the Palestinian cause, including by cheering on the murders, torture, and rapes of October 7 last year. Veldhuyzen and Ahmadi are legitimizing terror against innocent people by providing a platform for Khatib. I find that reprehensible, and they should find it as representatives of the people in the Amsterdam city council as well.”
Veldhuyzen wrote in a response on Instagram that his party will not be intimidated. “I would like to share here now how (extreme) right-wing Zionist parties are pushing a narrative to divert attention from the occupation, apartheid, and genocide,” he added.
