‘The War Has Begun’: The Dutch Networks

de Koning, Martijn; Becker, Carmen; Roex, Ineke

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-42207-3_4

Martijn de Koning⁴,
Carmen Becker⁵ &
Ineke Roex⁶

235 Accesses

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss three Dutch networks that were mainly concentrated in and around The Hague, but which also attracted various people from outside the area: Team Free Saddik/Behind Bars, Straat Dawah (Street Daʿwa) and Sharia4Holland. We analyse the impulsive and sometimes contradictory forms of counter-conduct engaged in by the activists in these networks, who sometimes did their best to remain outside the scope of government policy and evade public discourse, but on other occasions confronted it directly, thereby generating new and closer attention. In turn, this counter-reaction further reinforced the problematisation of these activists (and sometimes of Muslims in general). This dynamic, over which none of the parties really had complete control, is a central theme in this chapter.

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Notes

1.
Ministry of the Interior, ‘Integratienota Integratie, binding, burgerschap’, 16 June 2011.
2.
Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, ‘Integratieagenda’, 19 February 2013.
3.
The section is a shortened and slightly adjusted version of Fadil and De Koning (2019). See also Fadil et al. (2019) and De Koning (2020a).
4.
Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (BVD), De politieke Islam in Nederland (The Hague: Ministry of the Interior, 1998), 20.
5.
Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (BVD), Terrorisme aan het begin van de 21e eeuw. Dreigingsbeeld en positionering BVD (The Hague: Ministry of the Interior, 2001), 7.
6.
Bestrijding internationaal terrorisme; Brief minister met notitie over de achtergronden van jihadrekruten in Nederland. Kamerstuk (parliamentary paper) 2003–2004, 27925, no. 120, Tweede Kamer (House of Representatives).
7.
Minister for Immigration and Integration, Nota ‘Weerbaarheid en integratiebeleid’, 2005.
8.
Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, ‘Actieplan polarisatie en radicalisering 2007–2011’.
9.
AIVD, ‘Van dawa tot jihad. De diverse dreigingen van de radicale islam tegen de democratische rechtsorde’; AIVD, Radicale dawa in verandering, de opkomst van islamitisch neoradicalisme in Nederland (The Hague: Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, 2007).
10.
AIVD, Saoedische invloeden in Nederland (The Hague: Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, 2004); AIVD, ‘Van dawa tot jihad. De diverse dreigingen van de radicale islam tegen de democratische rechtsorde’; AIVD, Radicale dawa in verandering, de opkomst van islamitisch neoradicalisme in Nederland; AIVD, ‘Violent Jihad in the Netherlands. Current trends in the Islamist terrorist threat’, 2006; AIVD, Transformatie van het jihadisme in Nederland, webpage (The Hague: Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, 2014), https://www.aivd.nl/@3112/transformatie/; NCTb, De gewelddadige jihad in Nederland. Actuele trends in islamistisch-terroristische dreiging (The Hague: Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, 2006); NCTb, Salafisme in Nederland (The Hague: National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism, 2008).
11.
See, for example, Proceedings of the House of Representatives, Questions asked by Members of the House, with the answers given by the government, session year 2010–2011, ah-tk-20102011-3283.
12.
AIVD Inlichtingenwoordenboek, https://www.aivd.nl/onderwerpen/over-de-aivd/inlichtingenwoordenboek.
13.
NOS Journaal, 12 March 2013, ‘Honderd jihadstrijders uit Nederland’, http://nos.nl/artikel/483882-honderd-jihadstrijders-uit-nederland.html.
14.
Letter from the Minister of Security and Justice, NCTV 31^e Dreigingsbeeld Terrorisme Nederland (DTN31), House of Representatives, 14 December 2014, Kamerstuk (parliamentary paper) 29754 no. 215.
15.
Letter from the Minister of Security and Justice to the House of Representatives, 13 March 2013, ‘Samenvatting Dreigingsbeeld Terrorisme Nederland 32’, ref. 362553.
16.
See, for example, the discussion of Salafism by Amsterdam politician Andrée Van Es in Het Parool: ‘Treurig lot voor veel moslima’s’.
17.
This is a distinction made by almost every political party, with the exception of the PVV.
18.
Al-Yaqeen, ‘Idioterie en Islam gaan niet samen!’.
19.
Youtube videos: ‘Sheikh Fawaz en Abu Imran (deel 1)’; ‘Sheik Fawaz en Abu Imran (Deel 2)’.
20.
‘De valse methodiek van Sharia4Holland – Shaykh Abu ‘Umar Usaamah ibn ‘Ataayaa al-‘Utaybee deel 1’, and ‘De valse methodiek van Sharia4Holland – Shaykh Abu ‘Umar Usaamah ibn ‘Ataayaa al-‘Utaybee deel 2’. The text is taken from the blog Ieslaam, since this is the text that corresponds to the most widely disseminated transcription: http://ieslaam.blogspot.nl/2011/01/de-valse-methodiek-van-sharia4holland.html.
21.
Literally: those who leave, go away. A group of Muslims who revolted against the leadership of Caliph Ali after he agreed to arbitration with Mu‘awiya, the first caliph of the Umayyad dynasty. Used here as a pejorative label to delegitimise other Muslims and paint them as extremists. See also Chap. 3.
22.
Al Yaqeen.com, ‘Syrië en de jihad’.
23.
Based on leaked Facebook conversations that have now been removed. In order to protect privacy and anonymity, the conversations are not included here.
24.
AD, ‘Moskee: Toenemende radicalisering jongeren’, 26 September 2008.
25.
DeWareReligie.nl, ‘Nederlandse Saddik Sbaa vind (sic) martelaarschap in Syrië’.
26.
For an evaluation of the TA regime, see Veldhuis et al. (2010).
27.
Source: conversations with friends of Sbaa. See also the transcript of the discussion from an edition of Argos: ‘De AIVD-connecties in de Arabische wereld’, Argos, 4 June 2011.
28.
See also the Amnesty International report on the crackdown on the protests in Al Thamaraa: ‘Moroccan Authorities Criticized for Cracking Down on Témara Protests’.
29.
See, for example, NOS.nl: ‘Twee Nederlanders vast in Pakistan’, 10 November 2011.
30.
‘AbdelKarim Honing – Interview met Abou Imran – Deel1’, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or1oB8BrEgE, last viewed on 24 October 2014.
31.
A tyrannical ruler who governs according to man-made laws and not according to the laws of God (Islamic law).
32.
NU.nl ‘Sharia4Holland steunt demonstratie Marokkanen’, 18 June 2011.
33.
Sharia4Belgium ‘Bevrijdingsdag voor Mohamed B.’ – YouTube and press release, 5 May 2012.
34.
In the video ‘Wilders, Wanted dead or alive!’, Abu Imran looked back on the campaign at Dam Square and expressed his support for Abu Qasim.
35.
The last meeting of the network Behind Bars as such was a lecture in October 2012.
36.
National elections were held on 12 September 2012.
37.
Others called on those present to call out ‘Allahu akbar’.
38.
De Volkskrant, ‘Obama, Obama, wij zijn allemaal Osama’, 17 September 2012.
39.
De Telegraaf, ‘Protest Amsterdam verloopt vreedzaam’, 17 September 2012. NRC Next, ‘Amsterdam: vijftig demonstranten (en dat is inclusief tegengeluid)’, 17 September 2012.
40.
Het Parool, ‘Die beledigingen zijn we spuugzat’, 17 September 2012.
41.
Spitsnieuws, ‘Filmrellen door heel Europa’, 16 September 2012.
42.
ANP, ‘Rustig protest op Dam tegen anti-islamfilm’, 14 September 2012.
43.
In practice, however, returnees experienced a considerable lack of understanding within their own circles.
44.
Posted on Facebook and later removed. In our possession.
45.
References with page numbers only relate to De Banier.
46.
VPRO, 15 September 2012, Argos, ‘Toeristen of terroristen?’
47.
Based on Malcolm X: The House Negro and the Field Negro, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znQe9nUKzvQ, last viewed on 27 September 2014. This version was edited by IslamicAwakening: ‘Exposing House Muslims’. http://forums.islamicawakening.com/f20/exposing-house-muslims-65026/, last consulted on 27 September 2014.
48.
We are using Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali and Muhammad Muhsin. 1996. The Noble Quran: English Translation of the Meanings and Commentary. Madinah: King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran. This is only one of several English language translations, and we have chosen this one as it remains closest to the Dutch translation the activists themselves made. A critique of this translation can be found in Jassem (2014).
49.
For example, see Marokko.nl: http://forums.marokko.nl/showthread.php?t=4019704.
50.
In Islamic tradition, ‘the Battle of Badr’ refers to the first major battle between the Meccans and Muslims, which took place at Badr Hunayn in 624 AD. The Muslims, led by the prophet Muhammad, were victorious.
51.
‘Dewaarheid: Waarom wij de Democratie verwerpen I Abu Bashir’.
52.
‘Aboe Bachir | Advies aan de volgers van Bouchta… Deel 2’.
53.
Based on the numbers on the Youtube channel Ghuraba Media bilad al-Sham.
54.
Straat-Dawah.NL – Abdul-Jabbar van de Ven – Ghuraba, de vreemdelingen.
55.
‘Abou Yazeed, De jeugd van tegenwoordig, Deel 1’.
56.
This description is largely borrowed from Meleagrou-Hitchens (2011).
57.
One of the accusations was also that al-Awlaki fled the United States to prevent the FBI from disclosing the fact that he had been arrested twice for visiting prostitutes. He was convicted and given a conditional sentence and fined in 1997.
58.
Al-Awlaki was widely criticised in Salafist circles, particularly for the way in which he made use of doctrine and current affairs in his lectures.
59.
See, for example, al-Awlaki, A. (2010), The prize awaiting the shahid. Inspire 2 (fall), p. 64.
60.
Amsterdam Court of Appeal, Don Bosco College Volendam mag hoofddoekje verbieden Amsterdam, 6 September 2011.
61.
‘Straat-Dawah.NL – 29 oktober 2011 – Dawah in Volendam, Edam’.
62.
‘Straat-Dawah.NL – Dawah in Rotterdam – 13 November 2011’.
63.
‘Straat-Dawah.NL – Dawah in Den Haag – 11 December 2011’.
64.
‘Straat-Dawah.NL – Ziekenbezoek – 13 November – Rotterdam.
65.
Omroep Flevoland: ‘PVV: Moslims roepen op tot geweld’, 13 April 2012.
66.
House of Representatives, session year 2011–2012, Questions, kv-tk-2012Z08340, The Hague, 2012.
67.
House of Representatives, session year 2011–2012, Aanhangsel, ah-tk-20112012-2723, ISSN 0921-7398, The Hague, 2012.
68.
AIVD, ‘Transformatie van het jihadisme in Nederland’, web page (The Hague: Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, 2014), 25–29.
69.
‘Abou Imran in gesprek met Fouad Sidali op RADIO 5’, 9 December 2011.
70.
NTR, ‘De Halve Maan’, 9 December 2011, Debat Irshad Manji, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZtadb2uMT8.
71.
Umar Mirza, Wij Blijven Hier, ‘MuslimsAgainstSharia4Belgium’, http://wijblijvenhier.nl/9965/muslimsagainstsharia4belgium/.
72.
‘“You are criminals” – Een protest voor de Marokkaanse ambassade’, VICE.com, http://www.vice.com/nl/read/you-are-criminals-een-protest-voor-de-marokkaanse-ambasade.
73.
NU.nl ‘Sharia4Holland steunt demonstratie Marokkanen’, 18 June 2011.
74.
Press release by Team Free Saddik, in the possession of the researchers.
75.
De Volkskrant, ‘AIVD gebruikt info uit marteling’. 13 June 2013. http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2686/Binnenland/article/detail/3457764/2013/06/13/AIVD-gebruikt-info-uit-marteling.dhtml.
76.
See, for example, Pauw & Witteman, ‘Ibrahim Wijbenga en Yassin Elforkani over de polarisatie onder moslims’, 19 December 2013.
77.
Tweet by Harald Doornbos, 25 December 2013: https://twitter.com/HaraldDoornbos/status/416311065257844737.
78.
PVV Den Haag, ‘PVV roept raad terug van reces’.
79.
Ministry of Security and Justice, 14 March 2014, answers to parliamentary questions relating to reports that Jihadists in The Hague are swearing allegiance to Al Qaeda. Reference: Z013Z25513 (PVV parliamentary questions, question number: 2013Z25507).
80.
For a reflection on this trial, the use of academic knowledge and the position of the researcher, see De Koning (2020b).
81.
The verdicts were largely upheld in appeal in 2018. See Rechtspraak.nl. For the first court case, see case file: ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2015:16102. For the appeal, see ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2018:1248. For a reflection on the first trial, see De Koning (2018).

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Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Martijn de Koning
Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Carmen Becker
NTA Consultancy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Ineke Roex

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Martijn de Koning
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Carmen Becker
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de Koning, M., Becker, C., Roex, I. (2020). ‘The War Has Begun’: The Dutch Networks. In: Islamic Militant Activism in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42207-3_4

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42207-3_4
Published: 26 June 2020
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