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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Geert Wilders Speech In Silicon Valley: "We Are All Under Threat Today" "We Have To Tell The Truth About Islam" Geert Wilders Speech In Silicon Valley: "We Are All Under Threat Today" "We Have To Tell The Truth About Islam"August 13, 2015 Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) 12 augustus 2015
Dear friends, Thank you for inviting me to California and giving me the opportunity to talk to you. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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: Only last month, we saw another tragic example of Islamization in America. Let me tell you about my own continent and my own country. And now, we are witnessing a new reality: Europe is also becoming a continent of extremism and intolerance. 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. 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. So, let us stop bowing to Islam! No appeasement anymore! We must not give in. We cannot allow the terrorists to win and evil to triumph. 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. 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. Last June, a survey among US Muslims revealed that a majority of 51% want to be able to live under Sharia law. Indeed, you have a serious problem. We have a serious problem. We all have a problem. 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 catastrophy. 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. 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!" Bosch stood for his rights as an American citizen. Under Islamic Sharia law, depicting Muhammed 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. 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. 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. We owe it to the past generations always to speak the truth and not to take our liberties for granted. I am from Europe, you are Americans, but we are all in the same boat. 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. 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. 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: Indeed, my friends, a choice has to be made. The choice between Islam and 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. And that, my friends, is exactly what we will do. Thank you. http://www.pvv.nl/index.php/36-fj-related/geert-wilders/8541-speech-us-11082015.html |