“Islam is Evil”: Geert Wilders’ Speech in Silicon Valley

Baron Bodissey | Gates of Vienna

Below is a video of Geert Wilders’ speech in to the Conservative Forum of Silicon Valley in California on August 12. It opens with a five-minute introduction, and the question-and-answer session following the speeh begins at about 49:00:

Geert Wilders, the leader of the Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) in the Netherlands, spoke last night to the Conservative Forum of Silicon Valley in California. There was a massive police presence before, during, and after the event to protect Mr. Wilders from the misunderstood non-violent followers of the Religion of Peace.

A local NBC affiliate reported on the occasion:

Anti-Islam Politician Geert Wilders’ Visit Draws Heavy Police Presence in Mountain View

A heavy police presence in Mountain View Tuesday blocked roads for a controversial foreign dignitary.

Police late Tuesday guided drivers around the IFES Portuguese Hall, where Dutch politician Geert Wilders spoke to the Conservative Forum of Silicon Valley. Wilders is widely known for his criticism of Islam, and has repeatedly called for the Quran to be banned in the Netherlands.

Wilders is often heavily guarded by private guards, but Mountain View Police were on hand for Tuesday’s event. This comes after two gunman fired shots outside an event in Texas earlier this year, where a contest was held to draw the prophet Muhammad. Wilders was a speaker at that event.

Below is the prepared text for Mr. Wilders’ speech in Mountain View:

Dear friends,

Thank you for inviting me to California and giving me the opportunity to talk to you.
It is great to be back in America, the land of the free, the home of the brave.
It is great to be back in California, the state where dreams come true and no challenge is ever too big to overcome.

We are living in hard and difficult times. We are facing challenges we have never seen before. I am here to talk to you about Islam and the huge and existential threat it constitutes for our society and our freedoms.

But, first, let me say what a great pleasure it is to be in Silicon Valley, the technological heartland of the world. It is hard not to feel optimistic when driving through this vibrant valley of innovation.
Here lies the epicenter of change. Here lives the future. Here we find the proof that for every problem, however hard and difficult, there is always a solution.
As the great Californian and disabled sportsman Roger Crawford says: “Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.”

All that is needed is the will to solve the problem, the passion and perseverance to overcome difficulties, and the confidence that free societies are always able to bring out the best in people.

This confidence is the cause of my optimism. Forces of darkness have attacked us in the past. But we have always prevailed. And we will do so again.

Let me tell you something about myself. I am a politician from Europe. I am a member of the House of Representatives in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and I oppose Islamization. I do it in a peaceful way. I do it through democratic means. I engage in political debate. But Islam has marked me for death. I am on the death lists of Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, and the Pakistani Taliban.

For the past eleven years, I have been living under round the clock police protection. Wherever I go, armed policemen go with me. I live in a heavily guarded government safe house. I am driven around in armored vehicles. My wife and I have even lived in army barracks and prison cells, just to be safe from Islamic terrorists.
The more I warn about the dangers of Islam, the more death threats I get. But I am not the only one. This is not about me. My good friend, the Danish journalist Lars Hedegaard was attacked, so were the cartoonists Kurt Westergaard and Lars Vilks. Earlier this year, ten journalists and cartoonists of the magazine Charlie Hebdo were murdered, a few years ago my compatriot the filmmaker Theo van Gogh was assassinated. The list goes on and on. As a matter of fact, we are all under threat today.

But let’s not be silent. We should never be silent. We have to tell the truth about Islam. Whatever the consequences. It is our duty to do so.

I know what I am talking about. I have studied Islam. I have travelled the Islamic world extensively when I was still able to do so.
I have visited Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesia. I have met many kind, friendly and hospitable people there.
Of course, there are many moderate and kind Muslims. But this does not blind me to the very important reality that while many Muslims are moderates, Islam itself is not.

Allow me to give a briefing on Islam. The most important thing to know is the importance of the Koran. According to Islam it is written by Allah himself. An angel dictated it literally to Muhammad, the prophet. Every word in the Koran is Allah’s word and therefore not open to discussion or interpretation. It is valid for every situation and for all times. That is why there is no moderate Islam.

Islam is totalitarian. It wants to submit us all and according to Islam there is no room for anything but Islam. It is not voluntary either. No Muslim is allowed to renounce it. Apostates must be killed. It commands the submission of every nation on earth to Islamic Sharia law.
The Koran is full of verses such as Sura 47:4: “When ye meet the unbelievers, smite at their necks and cause a bloodbath among them.” There are over 150 verses in the Koran calling for jihad or holy war. It is put in practice every day. Just put on the television news and you can see Islam in action.

We are all the victims of Islamization. Look around you. This building is surrounded by heavily armed law enforcement officers. This gathering here tonight is heavily protected. Why? We are no criminals. We are peaceful, ordinary citizens exercising a fundamental right in our free society, the right of free speech. This is something the American Founding Fathers fought for, and enshrined in the First Amendment of your Constitution.

This situation here, tonight, is absolutely un-American. But, unfortunately, it has become a reality in America and the rest of the Western world. Why? I will tell you why: Because Islam has entered America and is taking over Europe.

Islam is fundamentally changing our societies. Fanatics, brainwashed by a totalitarian ideology, are ready to kill us if we simply try to inform people about Islam. They terrorize people into submission. I am grateful that you did not give in to these threats. But the fact remains:
Our Judeo-Christian identity, our traditions, our freedoms and values, including free speech, are no longer a given. They are in danger. They have to be protected. And that is a sad thing, unworthy of a free society.

Only last month, we saw another tragic example of Islamization in America.
A gunman in Chattanooga. Tennessee, murdered four American Marines and a Navy officer. The assassin, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, was an immigrant from Kuwait.
This makes one think of events in France in March 2012, where Mohammed Merah, an immigrant of Algerian descent, killed three French paratroopers. The same assassin later attacked a Jewish school, murdering three children and a rabbi.

Let me tell you about my own continent and my own country.
During the past decades, the European governments have made a terrible mistake. They have foolishly allowed millions of immigrants from Islamic countries to settle within our borders.

And now, we are witnessing a new reality:
Islamic neighborhoods are expanding. Many European cities have rapidly expanding Islamic populations: just take Amsterdam, Brussels, Bradford, Marseille and Malmö in Sweden and so many other cities in Europe. Europe is becoming a continent of head scarves and mosques.
In the Netherlands, Muhammad is currently already the second most popular name among newborn boys nationwide and even the most popular name in our three largest cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. This is also the case in the Belgian capital Brussels, the Norwegian capital Oslo, the British capital London. As a matter of fact even in the whole of Great-Britain, Muhammad has become the most popular name for newborn boys.

Europe is also becoming a continent of extremism and intolerance.
Last Summer, in my home town, The Hague, sympathizers of the Islamic State paraded in the streets. They carried swastikas and the black flags of IS. They shouted “Death to the Jews.” In broad daylight in my home town. According to the Koran, Jews are monkeys and pigs.
In Britain, Islamic gang have been filmed patrolling London streets, demanding that passersby confirm to Sharia law.
Recently, a young girl was beaten up in the French city of Reims by so-called Islamic religious police, because she was sunbathing in a park in her bikini.

In every Western nation, there are homegrown jihadis, prepared to commit violence. ISIS calls them “city wolves.” There are thousands of them. According to the European police agency Europol, 5,000 homegrown jihadis have left Europe to fight in Syria and Iraq. And many of them return.
Last January, an ISIS operative said that his organization had already sent some 4,000 fighters into Europe. The British authorities have uncovered an ISIS plot to blow up Queen Elizabeth. And the organization has announced that by 2020 it aims to conquer large parts of Europe, including Spain and the entire Balkans, as well as the northern half of Africa and the Indian peninsula.

Our political leaders, your president Barack Obama, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, my own Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, they still say that Islam is a religion of peace.
Let me tell you: They are wrong!
John Quincy Adams, America’s sixth President said: “The precept of the Koran is perpetual war against all who deny that Mahomet is the prophet of God.”
Winston Churchill, the great British wartime Prime Minister, called Islam a “retrograde force“ and called Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitic book Mein Kampf a “new Koran.”
Adams was right. Churchill was right. Obama and Cameron are wrong!

So, let us stop bowing to Islam! No appeasement anymore!
The jihadis and their sympathizers do not belong in our societies.
I say: Let us reclaim our freedom!
Fortunately I am not alone. All over the Western world, more and more people are saying: Enough is enough!
I am not a marginal figure. I am an elected politician, the leader of the Party for Freedom, currently the largest party in a recent Dutch national TV poll. The jihadis want to silence me because a growing number of people are realizing that I am telling the truth.

We must not give in. We cannot allow the terrorists to win and evil to triumph.
Where are the Western government leaders with the wisdom of Adams and Churchill?

On the eve of the battle of Long Island, the first major battle of the American War of Independence, George Washington told his men: “The time is now at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission.” These words — these wise words — apply to us as well today.
Where are the Western government leaders with the courage of George Washington?

A few years ago, I called on Muslims to liberate themselves from the yoke of Islam and choose for freedom. I wholeheartedly support Muslims who love freedom. So, I told them; “Free yourselves. Leave Islam.” I still stand by this appeal. But this does not blind me to the equally important reality that while many Muslims are moderates, a very large number, unfortunately, are not.

Let me give you some shocking numbers. The University of Amsterdam did a study about the 1 million Muslims in my country. It found that 11% is prepared to use violence for the sake of Islam. That is a staggering 110,000 people in a small country that is only half the size of Maine.

And it gets even worse. While the terrorists are only a minority, polls show that they have the support of the majority.
73% of the Islamic population in the Netherlands say that Muslims who go to Syria to fight in the jihad are heroes. 73%,
80% of the Turkish youths in the Netherlands do not think that the violence by ISIS against non-believers is wrong. 80%!
Can you believe it!?

Last June, a survey among US Muslims revealed that a majority of 51% want to be able to live under Sharia law.
Even more disturbing is the fact that 29% of American Muslims are okay with violence against people who so-called “insult” Muhammad.
25% — a staggering one in four — agree that violence against Americans here in the US is justified as part of jihad.

Indeed, you have a serious problem. We have a serious problem. We all have a problem.
It is called Islam. The problem is growing. And we cannot afford to ignore it any longer because our existence is at stake.

Here, in the United States, you have a problem with illegal immigration from Mexico. Just imagine if Mexico were an Islamic country and there were millions of Islamic immigrants crossing your border. That is exactly what is happening in Europe right now.

There are already millions of Islamic immigrants in Europe. Last year, almost 700,000 people, mostly from Islamic countries, made their way to Europe. This year, the numbers are expected to be even higher. Every day, they try to cross the Mediterranean with boats. In Calais, they storm trucks and trains in an effort to enter Britain. All over Europe, we are facing a catastrophe. Every day, the situation gets worse, while our governing elites put their heads in the sand.

It is time to wake up because time is running out.

This is my first speech in America, since the events in Garland, Texas, last May.
No doubt you remember that last May, two jihadis tried to cause a bloodbath during a Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland. I gave the keynote speech at that event. I wholeheartedly supported the organizers of the contest, my good friends Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer. They were attacked by some media outlets for provoking Islam. But the Garland event had not been organized as a provocation, but in reaction to a provocation.

The winner of the Garland cartoon contest was Bosch Fawstin, a former Muslim. Bosch had made a picture of a fierce looking Muhammad, waving a sword. “You cannot draw me,” Muhammad said. Underneath the picture, Bosch had written: “That is exactly why I am drawing you!”
And that, my friends, says it all.

Bosch stood for his rights as an American citizen. Under Islamic Sharia law, depicting Mohammed is a crime. But as an American, Bosch Fawstin is not living in an Islamic country. This is America, the land of the free. This is the United States. Here, everyone is allowed to make pictures and drawings, no matter what the Sharia says. And everyone is also allowed to change their religion and to become an Islamic apostate.

We have the make choices. Resistance or submission. Freedom or slavery. Liberty or Islam. Of course, we choose resistance, freedom, liberty. There is no other option. There is no other way.
That is why I was in Garland. That is why I have accepted to speak at a new Muhammad cartoon exhibition in the British capital London next month.

We should never allow ourselves to be intimidated. Not in Europe, and not in America.

More and more people are on our side. Just last week a poll in Britain revealed how people think about Islam in general. Over half of the population or 56 percent say that Islam — and I repeat Islam in general, not Islamic fundamentalism — is a threat to Western democracy.

The political elites know the mood of the people, the vox populi, is changing rapidly. That is why they are panicking. That is why they try to stop us. They cannot stop the people from voting for us, so they try to stop us through the courts.

Unlike America, we do not have a First Amendment in Europe. In the past decades, so-called hate speech laws have been introduced. They are totally subjective. It is sufficient that someone feels insulted by what you say in order to bring you to court. And Islamic activists feel very easily insulted.

Seven years ago, I made a documentary about Islam and the Islamization of my country. Jordan reacted with the threat to issue an international arrest warrant against me. Indonesia declared me persona non grata for the rest of my life. Even the Secretary-General of the United Nations denounced me. And in my own country, the Netherlands, I was brought to court.
Fortunately, I was acquitted on all charges. But now, the Dutch authorities have charged me again. And the only reason is that I voice an opinion that they do not like and find intolerant. Instead of acting against those who are intolerant to us, they go after people who are fed up being tolerant to the intolerant. Soon I will be in court again, forced to spend valuable time, energy and money on a trial.
Last March, I was in Austria, where I spoke about the threat of Islamization in Europe. Islamic organizations said they felt insulted. Now the Public Prosecutor in Austria has begun a criminal investigation against me. It is a legal jihad.

But let me tell you one thing: I will never give up. I will always speak the truth about Islam. Too much is at stake.

It is sad though. What we are witnessing today is how freedom dies. It dies because politicians are unwilling to defend it. It dies because of cowardice, ignorance and political opportunism and false correctness.
But that is not my way.

We owe it to the past generations always to speak the truth and not to take our liberties for granted.
We owe it to the future generations not to sign away their freedom.
We can halt the global expansion of Islam if we do our duty.
We can turn the tide if we act today. Today, my friends, must be our finest hour.
We must confront cowardice with the truth. We must confront ignorance with the truth.
We must confront political opportunism with the truth.
The truth about Islam.

I am from Europe, you are Americans, but we are all in the same boat.
We must unite against a common threat. The Islamic tide is strong, but the West has repulsed it before. And we can do so again if we stand together.

We should stand with every nation and every people threatened by Islamic jihad. Especially with the country that I love so much, namely the State of Israel.
Israel is a beacon of light in a sea of Islamic darkness. I have lived in Israel for a few years. It felt like home. It is our home. It is the only democracy in the Middle East and the only country in the region that shares our values. Its conflict with Islam is not about land, it’s about ideology. It is a conflict between freedom and tyranny. Israel is the canary in the coalmine. If Islam conquers Israel, we will be next. Huntington was wrong. There is no clash of civilizations but a clash between our civilization and barbarity.

That is why we are all Israel and why we must support it and defend its safety. We should never trust Islamic criminal regimes such as Iran. The nuclear treaty which your president and the other Western leaders recently concluded with the Islamic State of Iran is a travesty, an appalling historical mistake. It is a major threat to the security of Israel and the entire West.
It is time to end these appeasement policies. It is time to support Israel.

My friends, it is not easy to criticize Islam. The jihadis put us on death lists. The authorities drag us to court. The political establishment refuses to listen to our warnings. They all try to silence us. But the people are on our side. Because we are on their side. The side of liberty.

If I were to become the next Dutch Prime Minister, here is what I would do:

A.		Guarantee freedom of speech. A European First Amendment. Protection for speaking the truth, no matter how politically incorrect it might be.
B.		End all immigration from Islamic countries. Enough is enough! We need less Islam instead of more. Why allow them to build mosques in our countries while the first church still has to be built in Saudi-Arabia?
C.		Guarantee equal rights to anyone who assimilates into our society and respects our laws and values, but expel those who don’t, those who wage jihad or impose Sharia law on us.
D.		Regain national sovereignty and reinstate national border controls. Because the Netherlands are a member state of the European Union and the Schengen Treaty, we are no longer fully sovereign and have no national border controls anymore. It is ridiculous. I want the Netherlands to be inside Europe, but outside the European Union, just like Switzerland.
E.		Defend the Judeo-Christian roots of our civilization. Stop the cultural relativism. Not all cultures are equal. Our culture is far better than the Islamic culture. Let us not be ashamed but proud of who and what we are.

Indeed, my friends, a choice has to be made. The choice between Islam and freedom.
Let us make the right choice.
Let us continue the legacy our ancestors bestowed on us, with liberty and justice for all.
Let us never surrender.
Let us choose freedom.

Let me finish by quoting one of your great president. Thomas Jefferson. I also quote him in my book Marked for Death. His words are a great inspiration to me.
Jefferson said: “In matters of principle, stand like a rock.”

And that, my friends, is exactly what we will do.
We will stand like a stone wall in the defense of our freedoms.

Thank you.