Queen Beatrix of Netherlands defends decision to wear headscarf on state visit

Queen Beatrix took on the fiery leader of her country's anti-Muslim party, Geert Wilders, on Thursday by dismissing as "nonsense" his criticism of her decision to wear a headscarf during a recent visit to a mosque.

The queen made her unusually forthright comment to Dutch reporters covering her state visit to the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Her comments were not recorded, but Beatrix told reporters she wore the head scarf in the UAE and again on a visit to an Oman mosque to show religious respect.

The popular monarch was responding to questions from reporters about parliamentary questions filed by anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, who said the monarch's decision to cover her head on a visit to a mosque in Abu Dhabi on Sunday legitimizes the oppression of women.

Note EU-Digest: Queen Juliana did the right thing and must be complimenting for standing up against Islam hating Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders. Wilders has been described by some members of the Dutch Parliament as Prime Ministers Mark Rutte's most influential non-official Government Coalition partner. Geert Wilders considers Israel as his "home away from home". He lived and worked on a Kibbutz in Israel from his 17th to his 19th year and afterwards visited that country more than 40 times. He told the German Magazine Spiegel in an interview that he is opposed to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state or putting a stop to the building of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. Wilders and Jewish Foreign minister, the controversial right-wing politician Avigdor Lieberman of the Jisrael Beeténoe party, recently signed an agreement for their two parties to work closer together. Wilders second wife is the former Jewish-Hungarian diplomat Krisztina Marfaimarried.


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