Sponsoring Geert

by Eric Fingerhut
JTA Blogs
February 25, 2009

https://www.legal-project.org/188/sponsoring-geert

Excerpt:

 Daniel Pipes doesn't agree with Dutch politician Geert Wilders' view that the Koran should be banned. But he does believe Wilders should be able to publicly present that view. That's why the Middle East Forum's Legal Project is helping Wilders raise money for his legal defense and sponsored his appearance Wednesday evening at Ahavath Torah Congregation in a Boston suburb.

"I don't need to agree with him to see the importance of him making his arguments," said Pipes, the director of MEF, about Wilders, who heads the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands and serves in the country's Parliament. Earlier this month, Wilder was not allowed to enter the United Kingdom due to his criticism of Islam, which included comparing it to Nazism, and last month a Dutch court ruled he could be prosecuted for hate speech.

Pipes said Wilders is an important figure who is part of the discussion about confronting and fighting radical Islam. "If our collective voice is impeded from speaking" or "shut down," said Pipes, then "the way is paved for radical Islam to move ahead." 

Pipes said he felt hate speech laws, which have also been used to prosecute Holocaust deniers in Europe, are a bad idea.

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