mayor of Rotterdam Aboutaleb wishes for potential Dutch jihadis to leave

Submitted by myth (Germany), Nov 26, 2014 at 06:33

The mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb spoke with Dutch paper Algemeen Dagblad:

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1038/Rotterdam/article/detail/3798493/2014/11/26/Wil-je-naar-Syrie-Ga-maar-kom-hier-niet-meer-terug.dhtml

He wants potential Dutch jihadis to leave the country:

,,Voor de mensen die voor zichzelf hebben uitgemaakt: dit is mijn beeld, die houden we

niet tegen. Ik wil ze ook niet tegenhouden. Als iemand deze samenleving verdorven vindt,

ga! Ga maar. Maar dan is er ook geen weg meer terug. Lever dan je paspoort in en neem het risico dat er bommen op je vallen. In die

zin verschil ik echt hardgrondig met de Nederlandse regering van opvatting op dit punt."

I translate this into English:

To the people who decided for themselves: this is my view, we do not hold them back. I do not want to hold them back either. If someone finds our society perverted, go! Just go! But then there is also no longer a way back. Turn in your passpart and take the risk of bombs falling on you. In this sense I really differ substantially from the Dutch government's understanding of this issue.

On the other hand Aboutaleb offers his personal help to families who want to intervene:

Zoek hulp, alstublieft. Zoek hulp en als je echt helemaal niet weet waar je naartoe moet, stuur de burgemeester een brief, of loop het stadhuis binnen en laat een briefje achter bij de portier. Dat bereikt mij binnen een halfuur.

In English:

Look for help, please. Look for help if you do not know where to go, send the mayor a letter, or walk into cityhall and leave a letter with the porter. That will reach me within half an hour.

I understand Aboutaleb sees two mutually exclusive options: One is to live within Dutch society by Western values. The other is to leave for jihad in Syria. In terms of culture Aboutaleb rejects the the combination that people formally live in the Netherlands but believe in a jihadist culture as a mindset. Denying jihadis the right to return is a form of immigration policy.

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