The controversial British Sharia preacher Haitham Al Haddad gave "covert" lessons at the Cornelius Haga Lyceum in Amsterdam, newspaper NRC reported on Friday based on a confidential official message that intelligence service AIVD sent to mayor Femke Halsema of Amsterdam in January.
The message also says that other radical Islamic people were also involved in the school and that the school management funded a Chechen terrorist movement, according to the newspaper.
The Cornelius Haga Lyceum received threatening emails after the national coordinator of counterterrorism and security NCTV warned parliament and the Amsterdam mayor that employees of the school had contact with a terrorist organization, ANP reports.
Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security, intelligence service AIVD and national coordinator for counterterrorism and security NCTV have major concerns about Islamic school Cornelius Haga Lyceum in Amsterdam. In a letter to parliament and Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema, they wrote that there are indications that the board of the school has been in contact with a terrorist group for years, RTL Nieus reports.
There are still jihadists who are making plans to commit an attack in the Netherlands, the national coordinator for counter terrorism and security NCTV said in its latest threat assessment. The chance of an attack in the Netherlands remains real, and the threat level is therefore still at 4 on a scale of 5, NOS reports.
Tilburg University called in an external expert to check a controversial dissertation on Salafism in the Netherlands, following complaints that the study contains many errors. This move is remarkable, as the research was previously presented as a thorough study on radical Islam, NOS reports.
Although the jihadist threat changed over he past months, the threat in the Netherlands remains substantial at 4 on a scale of 5, the national coordinator for counter terrorism and security NCTV said on Monday. That means that there is a real probability of an attack in the Netherlands, but there are no concrete indications that one is being planned, ANP reports.
There is a growing group of young salafists in the Netherlands who politicians can't get a grip on, according to a study by Mohammad Nazar Soroush at Tilburg University, for which he is receiving his doctorate, NOS reports.
Nazar Soroush studied salafist Muslims in the Netherlands for 15 years. He visited 64 religious meetings over the past three years, and listened and watched young salafists at mosques, foundations and leisure activities. Salafists are Muslims who try to live as strictly as possible to the authentic, pure form of Islam.
At least 30 Islamic organizations in the Netherlands have applied for and received funding from conservative Gulf States in recent years. This involves millions of euros coming to the Netherlands from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, NRC and Nieuwsuur report based on confidential government information they managed to get hold of.
Rotterdam's mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb would not take back his controversial remarks on Salafism. Last month the mayor, a Muslim himself, caused uproar when during an interview he stated that every Muslim is a bit of a Salafist. Salafism is an ultra-conservative branch within the Sunni Islam.
"There were no wrong words used in the interview, but perhaps the radio is too volatile of a medium"; Aboutaleb told the city council on Friday. The mayor's provocative remark was heard during an interview on the radio-program Dit is de Dag.
Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb caused a social media uproar with an interview on NPO Radio 1 in which he said that "every Muslim is a bit of a salafist". PVV leader Geert Wilders called for Aboutaleb's resignation.
Islamic organizations are critical of the decision of Minister Stef Blok of Security and Justice to ban controversial imam Fawas Jneid from two neighborhoods in The Hague. The ban is in violation of the constitution and is part of the state's witch hunt on anyone who has a different viewpoint than that of the public opinion, the organizations wrote on Facebook, NOS reports.
The municipality of Rotterdam blocked the opening of a Salafist school in the former ROC building on Vorkstraat by buying the building itself, the Telegraaf reports.
Getting help from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Dutch embassy in Qatar, Rotterdam managed to convince the financers - Sheikh Eid Charitable Association - to drop their plans for the Salafist school. Part of the agreement was that the municipality will take over the building. Buying the building cost the municipality 1.7 million euros, the same amount the association paid for it.
A controversial charity institution from Qatar financed a school for Salafist Muslims in Rotterdam, NRC reports. According to the newspaper, the Eid Charity bought the building for the school for 1.7 million euros.
Officials working at the Immigration and Naturalization Service will soon be trained in a basic course on Islam. Among other things, they will be trained on how to tell the difference between a religious Muslim and an extremist
VVD leader Halbe Zijlstra forced one of his parliamentarians, Sjoerd Potters, to withdraw a legislative proposal on the status of religious organization in the Netherlands. According to Zijlstra, the bill "does not suit the VVD vision"
Salafist organizations can be banned if they break the law, but the cabinet will not impose a general ban. The government will however, keep a closer eye on such organizations, Minister Lodewijk Asscher of Social Affairs wrote in a letter to the Tweede Kamer, lower house of parliament.
The VVD is submitting a proposal to change the law so that religious groups are no longer protected from criminal prosecution. In this way Salafist organizations can be acted against, VVD leader Halbe Zijlstra said in an interview with Dutch newspaper Trouw.
According to The Hague Mayor Jozias van Aartsen, banning Salafist organizations is unconstitutional and undesirable, he said in an interview with NRC on Monday. This is in response to a motion in the Tweede Kamer, lower house of Parliament, asking the government to investigate opportunities for banning these organization, which they consider a breeding ground for violent jihadism.
The Dutch government is going to keep track of all Salafist organization and look into whether it is possible to ban them, Minister Lodewijk Asscher of Social Affairs told the Tweede Kamer, lower house of parliament, on Thursday, lower house of parliament, on Thursday
Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher has called on representatives of the Turkish-Dutch, Kurdish and Alevi communities in the Netherlands to calm the tensions among the communities caused by events in Turkey.
Dutch security services remain concerned by elements of an ultra-conservative orthodoxical Salafist movement in the Netherlands, the AIVD announced Thursday. Despite this, the agency along with counter-terrorism office NCTV said it saw no evidence of ISIS operatives using refugee status to sneak into the Netherlands and wreak havoc.
