"If Jerusalem falls, we’re next": Pro-Israel Geert Wilders warns Europe of Jihadi threat 

Right-wing Dutch leader Geert Wilders, who triggered the collapse of the Netherlands’ coalition government this week over a dispute on immigration, used his resignation to deliver a passionate defense of Israel. In an emotional speech, Wilders declared, “Israel is fighting our battle. If Jerusalem falls, we are next in line,” warning of the shared threat posed by jihadist terror to both Israel and the West.

Wilders decision to withdraw from the fragile ruling coalition plunged the country into crisis and likely set the stage for new elections. Speaking just weeks ahead of a major NATO summit scheduled to be hosted in the Netherlands, Wilders emphasized solidarity with Israel stating: "Our mothers can sleep peacefully at night, because the mothers of Israeli soldiers lie awake wondering if their children will come out of the battle alive. A struggle for freedom and democracy against jihadist terror."

After a tense, last-ditch meeting to rescue the embattled four-party coalition, Geert Wilders announced he was pulling his ministers from the Dutch cabinet. “I signed up for the strictest asylum policy, not for the downfall of the Netherlands,” said Wilders, 61, whose far-right Freedom Party (PVV) scored a decisive victory in the November 2023 elections.

Prime Minister Dick Schoof condemned the move as “unnecessary and irresponsible,” adding that he would submit the resignations of PVV ministers to King Willem-Alexander. “I will continue as a caretaker… until a new cabinet is in place. Because life in the Netherlands and abroad does go on,” he said. Though Wilders had backed the coalition’s promise to enact what he called the “strictest-ever immigration policy,” he now claims its implementation has been far too slow. Eighteen months after shaking Europe with his surprise win, polls show Wilders’ PVV remains the country’s most popular party.