As ISIS Threatens Europe, The Netherlands Cut Intelligence Funding.

As ISIS Threatens Europe, The Netherlands Cut Intelligence Funding. HT: TIP. By Abigail R. Esman.

First, they warn the threat of terrorism has never been so dire.Then they cut the funds to fight it.

This is what has happened in the Netherlands, where experts say 'homegrown jihadism" is not only growing, but changing, largely as a result of the war in Syria.

More than 100 Dutch Muslims have joined the resistance battling dictator Bashar al-Assad, most of them becoming members of terrorist groups Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaida affiliate, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the most violent of the Islamic terrorist groups, now waging a new war in Iraq.

Now at least 30 of those Dutch youth have returned home, but the country's intelligence agency can't track them. Budget cuts have crippled their ability to keep pace.

And yet, despite this, Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk is calling for an additional €70 million in cuts – this when the country's terror alert is at its second-highest level and the number of Salafist, or radical and often violent Muslims, is on the rise.

Indeed, Europol reports that in 2013, "Al Qaeda and like-minded terrorist groups abroad continued to encourage self-organized attacks within the EU, aiming for indiscriminate casualties." Read the full story here.

Amsterdam VVD councillor criticises police who failed to arrest the Sharia4Holland speakers, who made death threats to Geert Wilders.

Amsterdam VVD councillor criticises police who failed to arrest the Sharia4Holland speakers, who made death threats to Geert Wilders.(RNW).Amsterdam VVD councillor, Robert Flos, has criticised the police for the way they dealt with a hate speech on Dam Square on Friday. On local television channel AT5, the councillor says the police failed to arrest the Sharia4Holland speakers, who made death threats aimed at Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders and arrested a passer-by who tried to enter a discussion with the speakers. Mr Flos points out that making death threats is a criminal offence. The passer-by was heavy-handedly removed from the scene.
The councillor told AT5 he was shocked but “a message of intolerance can even be made next to our monument of freedom.” He has asked city Mayor Eberhard van der Laan for an explanation. The Sharia4Holland speaker called Mr Wilders “this dog of the Romans”, who will be dealt with once the Netherlands is an Islamic state. He also warned that lessons should be learnt from “the case of Theo van Gogh''. The Public Prosecution and the police are investigating the comments made by the Sharia4Holland members, who want to impose Sharia law (Islamic law) in the Netherlands. According to experts, the movement in the Netherlands is very small with only around a dozen members and even radical imams want nothing to do with it. Sharia4Holland is an offshoot of Sharia4Belgium.Read the full story here.
Update: Sharia4Holland spokesman arrested over Wilders threat.(DN). Amsterdam police have arrested the 29-year-old spokesman for radical Islamic group Sharia4Holland for making threats against MP Geert Wilders. In an impromptu press conference on Dam square in Amsterdam on Friday, the man likened Wilders to a Roman dog and warned him to learn the lesson of what happened to Theo van Gogh. Van Gog was killed by an Islamic militant. The arrest followed a formal complaint by Wilders and critical comments from politicians. Sharia4Holland, an offshoot of Sharia4Belgium, is said to have handful of members in the Netherlands.Read the full story here.