Dutch lawmaker: Expel ICC prosecutor

Elad Benari

Anti-Muslim Dutch MP Geert Wilders says ICC prosecutor should be declared persona non grata over decision to investigate Israel.

Geert Wilders / Reuters

Geert Wilders, head of the Netherlands Party for Freedom (PVV), is calling on his country to expel the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, who last week announced her intention to investigate Israel for “war crimes” in Palestinian Authority (PA)-assigned territories.

“The International Criminal Court has no authority at all here and behaves as a biased pro-Palestinian institution and an antisemitic kangaroo court,” Wilders tweeted on Thursday.

“The ICC prosecutor Bensouda should be declared persona non grata and be evicted out of The Netherlands,” he added.

Bensouda’s decision has been denounced by Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who said this week her decision to investigate Israel and described it as “pure anti-Semitism”.

Wilders is known for his anti-Islam rhetoric, which has in the past sparked outrage around the Muslim world and prompted death threats that have led to him living under round-the-clock protection.

In 2015, Wilders caused a storm in his country after he announced plans to broadcast cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, the founder of Islam, on national television.

In June, he called for the transfer of Palestinian Authority residents from Judea and Samaria to Jordan, as an alternative to the US-backed “Deal of the Century” Middle East peace plan.