Rights group to report Markuszower over Palestinian comments

Far-right MP Gidi Markuszower has come under heavy criticism after he called for “maximum force” against Palestinian refugees, adding that the Netherlands should use more force “if necessary” than the current Israeli regime.

Human rights group The Rights Forum said it will file a formal complaint against the MP after he made the comments in an interview with online media platform Left Laser.

Markuszower, an Israeli national, said Palestinians should be stopped at the border by military police. He also spoke of “proportionate” maximum force later in the interview.

The Rights Forum said the comments incited violence against Palestinians as a people and were “morally reprehensible”. Other leaders, including Jesse Klaver, leader of opposition party Progressief Nederland, called for “total condemnation, from right to left, from the parliament to the cabinet.”

Markuszower wrote in response on social media that an asylum freeze must be implemented, and that using force where necessary is already happening “in all civilised countries”. He also accused Klaver of siding with Hamas by joining the Red Line protests against the Gaza war last year.

Markuszower recently split from the anti-immigration party PVV to form his own far-right party, whose acronym is DNA (De Nederlandse Alliantie). The party logo is a strand of DNA.

Under the previous PVV-led cabinet, Markuszower had his candidacy for minister of asylum withdrawn after the national security service AIVD warned that he posed a threat to the integrity of the Netherlands.

The service warned that, among other things, he was involved in the transfer of “information to foreign powers” – widely assumed to be Israel.

Recently, Markuszower evoked heavy criticism for joining a rally outside a planned asylum centre in Loosdrecht, where there have been consistent riots by extreme right groups.

He also appeared to downplay violence at the site by suggesting an arson attack on Tuesday night could have been a spontaneous fire, the NRC reported, and spoke of disproportionate police violence against demonstrators.