Dutch Opposition Leader Backs Renewed Jewish Settlement in Samaria

“Twenty-one years ago, you were expelled from here, and now you are returning with a huge plan to resettle all of Samaria,” Wilders said.

By United with Israel Staff

Dutch opposition leader and prime ministerial candidate Geert Wilders opened a visit to Israel this week with a tour of the reestablished community of Sa-Nur in northern Samaria, where he voiced strong support for renewed Jewish settlement in the area.

Wilders arrived in Israel over the weekend and made clear that his visit was intended as a show of solidarity with the Jewish state amid the ongoing regional conflict.

“Jerusalem today!” Wilders wrote Saturday. “I am proud to be a friend of Israel. Always have been and always will be. So I come here not only in peacetime but also in times of terror and war.”

He said he would begin a full schedule of political meetings following Shabbat, ending his message with “Am Yisrael Chai.”

Wilders then opened his political program with a visit to the reestablished community of Sa-Nur in northern Samaria as a guest of Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan. The visit came against the backdrop of the Dutch government’s decision to ban imports of products from Judea and Samaria, a policy Wilders opposes.

Standing alongside Dagan, Wilders praised the return to Sa-Nur, one of the northern Samaria communities evacuated during Israel’s 2005 Disengagement.

“Yossi, I am very proud to be here with the ‘Lion of Samaria,'” Wilders told Dagan. “Twenty-one years ago you were expelled from here, and now you are returning with a huge plan to resettle all of Samaria.”

“I am very proud of you. This is the only way,” he continued. “This is your land, your country, your history and your religion. You are a very brave man.”

Dagan thanked Wilders for his longstanding support for Israel and the communities of Judea and Samaria.

“I am excited to host you in Sa-Nur, in my home, in the heart of the Land of Israel,” Dagan said. “You are a courageous leader, and I know what you are doing for the future of Europe, the Netherlands and Israel.”

Dagan argued that rebuilding communities in northern Samaria also serves a critical security purpose following the October 7 massacre.

“After October 7, it is clearer than ever that our communities in northern Samaria are the security belt of the entire State of Israel,” he said.

Wilders agreed, linking Israel’s security struggle to that of Europe.

“It affects the security of Europe and the security of the Netherlands,” he said. “Everything is connected, and therefore we act together, and we will win together.”

Wilders, 62, is one of the Netherlands’ most prominent and controversial political figures. He founded and has led the right-wing populist Party for Freedom (PVV) since 2006 and is known particularly for his hardline opposition to Islam and immigration, as well as his Eurosceptic positions. His views and repeated threats against him have resulted in Wilders living under extensive police protection for more than two decades.

He has also been an outspoken supporter of Israel throughout his political career, frequently portraying the Jewish state as a frontline defender of Western civilization against radical Islam. He has advocated Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and increased Jewish construction there, while arguing that Jordan should serve as a Palestinian state.

Following the October 7 Hamas massacre, Wilders displayed an Israeli flag alongside the Dutch flag in his office and strongly condemned the attacks. He has also criticized anti-Israel demonstrations in the Netherlands and called for stronger action against extremism.

His visit to Sa-Nur highlighted the sharp divide between Wilders and the current Dutch government’s policies toward Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, with the PVV leader using the trip to reiterate his longstanding support for Israel’s claims to the territory.