(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Minister continued his shocking statement by adding: “the government's plan to introduce a ban on the burka is not so much about public safety as about the fact 'in our society, you should be able to see each other.”
The cabinet, supported by its anti-Islam alliance partner PVV, is planning to shake up the current rules surrounding the integration of foreigners, and a ban on the burka is part of that.
The new policy will remove targets and make immigrants responsible for their own integration.
'When I was at school, there was much greater segregation - between Catholics and Protestants,' Donner said. But that is now over, he pointed out.
The latest shake up by the Dutch government comes only weeks after a court in Amsterdam acquitted far-right politician Geert Wilders on charges of inciting hate and discrimination against Muslims. Wilders is known for his statements attacking Islam and portraying Muslim immigrants as a threat to Dutch culture.
The Geert Wilders case was then followed by the Dutch Parliament approving the first reading of a bill banning the ritual of slaughter of livestock. The decision has infuriated the Dutch Muslims and Jews who in an unusual show of unity condemned the decision as many Dutch Jews and Muslims argue it would marginalize religious minorities.
The Netherlands, a nation of 16 million people, is home to more than 1 million Muslims and a 50,000-strong Jewish community.
Some Jewish community leaders in the Netherlands likened the ban to Nazi Germany’s closure of kosher abattoirs during World War II.
As well as Jewish organisations in Holland many Dutch Muslims have condemned the bill as an attack on their religious customs.
“Many Muslims and non-Muslims in the Netherlands believe that the ban on the ritual slaughter of animals targets Muslims, and in fact it reflects the rising anti-Muslim sentiments here,” says Touraj Atabaki, an Iranian-Dutch professor at the University of Amsterdam.
“The target is probably the Muslim community, whose number has been on a constant rise in European countries in recent years,” Atabaki says. “They have maintained their Islamic values, including dress codes. And they usually keep their distance from the rest of society and live inside their so-called colonies.
“It bothers far-right politicians, who try to increasingly pressurize Islamic groups and Islamic societies, as we’ve recently seen in France and Austria.”
The minister also told MPs that knowledge of the Dutch national anthem, the Wilhelmus, will be included in integration courses for new immigrants from July.
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