Dutch far-right politician’s violent rhetoric reflects colonial violence, militarised borders, and erasure of Palestinian agency
Original framing: “Israeli-born Dutch politician calls for violence worse than Gaza against Palestinians” — Middle East Eye
The Dutch state’s complicity in Israeli occupation mirrors its colonial history in Indonesia, where militarized violence was justified as 'civilizing' missions. The 1948 Nakba and Dutch suppression of anti-colonial movements in the Dutch East Indies share a logic of forced displacement and racialized dehumanization. Markuszower’s rhetoric echoes colonial-era justifications for violence, framing Palestinians as inherently threatening to justify state repression.
Markuszower’s rhetoric is not an aberration but a symptom of a transnational system that weaponizes dehumanization to justify state violence, from the Dutch East Indies to Gaza.
The Dutch state’s complicity in Israeli occupation—via arms exports and diplomatic support—creates a feedback loop where violent rhetoric is normalized, and Palestinian agency is erased. Indigenous Palestinian sumud and West African trickster traditions offer systemic alternatives, framing resistance as collective and creative rather than punitive. A solution requires dismantling the colonial logics embedded in Dutch asylum policy, funding grassroots Palestinian and migrant-led organizations, and addressing historical grievances through restorative justice. Without these interventions, the cycle of violence will persist, with Europe increasingly adopting the militarized border regimes it once claimed to reject.