Israeli-born Dutch politician calls for violence worse than Gaza against Palestinians

An Israeli-born right-wing Dutch lawmaker has called for the government to stop Palestinian refugees from entering the country "with more force than where they came from", prompting a complaint over incitement to violence.  

Gidi Markuszower made the comments in a recent video interview with the media platform Left Laser. 

Talking about Palestinian refugees, he repeatedly stated that they needed to be stopped from entering the country "with force". 

"With force, maybe with even more force than what they fled from. They need to be stopped with force by the Netherlands and all of Europe," he said. 

Asked whether that means stopping Palestinians "with more violence than Israel is currently using", he responded: "If necessary, with force."

Asked if that meant shooting at them, he responded: "With force, yes."

The interviewer then asked: "What exactly do you mean by that? Would the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee stand at the border holding Heckler & Koch rifles and use them to shoot Palestinians trying to enter the country?"

Markuszower responded: "Not let them in. You don't have a visa, you are not allowed to come here. And if they still come, then yes, you have to defend yourself. Maximum force."

The Rights Forum, a human rights organisation, has said it will file a complaint against Markuszower for incitement to violence against asylum seekers, calling his comments "morally reprehensible".

Markuszower also called for Palestinians to stay in "Arabia", or "wither away" in Gaza.

He said: "You and I get up in the morning to make something of ourselves, but the average Palestinian, about 90 percent or so, votes for Hamas. And so they wake up with the thought that they want to kill people. Ninety percent support their culture of destruction."

In the first quarter of 2026, just under 6,000 people applied for asylum in the Netherlands. Around 1,100 of them applied with an "unknown nationality", a category which includes Palestinian refugees.

The Netherlands does not recognise Palestinian statehood. 

Israel links 

Markuszower was born in Tel Aviv. He has formerly worked as a spokesperson for the Netherlands branch of Israel's ruling Likud party.

He had previously been a member of Party for Freedom (PVV), the far-right party led by Geert Wilders, but in January left and founded his own party, The Dutch Alliance.

In 2024, the far right government at the time, which was spearheaded by Wilders, was set to appoint Markuszower as deputy prime minister and migration minister, but retracted the nomination over security concerns. 

The concerns were flagged after background checks by Dutch intelligence services. It was not made clear exactly what the concerns were.

In 2010, Markuszower backed out from running for Dutch parliament after intelligence agencies linked him to a foreign security service, which media reports cited as likely being Israel's Mossad.

That did not stop him from being elected to the upper house of parliament five years later, and the lower house two years after that.

Markuszower has also been detained by police for possession of a weapon, though he was not charged for it.

In 2023, he told lawmakers that "the African jungle" was coming to the Netherlands "en masse".

Markuszower's comments about Palestinians were roundly criticised by lawmakers this week.

Jesse Klaver, leader of the GroenLinks-PvdA alliance, called the comments "deeply abhorrent language, an absolute low point".

"What complete idiocy. Stop this dangerous contest of outbidding the radical right," said Jan Paternotte, of the Democrats 66 party.