Dutch politician Geert Wilders has never been shy about his support for Israel, but his latest praise for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be one of his clearest endorsements yet.
During an interview recorded in Israel, the leader of the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom said Netanyahu had done more to confront what Wilders called “Islamic jihadism” than Europe’s political leaders had accomplished over the past two decades.
“We don’t have any Benjamin Netanyahus in Europe today, and I wish we had more of them,” Wilders said. A video accompanying the remarks described him as arguing that Netanyahu had done more to fight Islamic jihadism than European leaders.
That is not a casual compliment. Netanyahu remains one of the world’s most consequential and divisive political leaders, praised by supporters for confronting Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, yet heavily criticized over Israel’s military operations in Gaza and its policies in the occupied West Bank.
Wilders Praises Netanyahu’s Approach to Security
Wilders acknowledged that no political leader is perfect but said he had considerable respect for Netanyahu’s willingness to confront armed Islamist groups.
His praise reflects a position he has repeated for years: that Israel is fighting threats that eventually reach European cities. Wilders views Israel’s battles against Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Iran-backed groups as part of a broader struggle involving Europe and the Western world.
In August 2025, Wilders said he had spoken with Netanyahu by telephone and told him that “millions and millions” of Europeans supported his efforts against Hamas despite criticism from politicians and the media. He also declared that Israel’s fight was Europe’s fight because both sides valued “life and freedom.”
The Dutch politician reinforced that message during his July 2026 visit, writing that he was proud to be a friend of Israel in both peaceful periods and “times of terror and war.” His visit included meetings and tours in Israel and the West Bank.
Wilders remains a major figure in Dutch politics, although his party suffered a significant setback in January 2026 when seven lawmakers left its parliamentary group. The Party for Freedom currently has 19 members in the Netherlands’ 150-seat House of Representatives, with Wilders serving as parliamentary leader.
His West Bank Visit Added Another Layer of Controversy
Wilders’ comments about Netanyahu came during a trip that also placed him directly inside one of the most contentious parts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He visited Sa-Nur in the northern West Bank as a guest of Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council. Sa-Nur was evacuated during Israel’s 2005 disengagement, but Israeli supporters have pushed for renewed settlement in the area.
During the visit, Wilders was shown a proposal known as the “Reconnect Plan,” which calls for establishing 19 communities in northern Samaria, the biblical name many Israelis use for the northern West Bank.
“Twenty-one years ago, you were expelled from here, and now you are returning with a major plan to resettle all of Samaria,” Wilders told Dagan. “This is your land, your country, your history, and your religion.”
Dagan returned the praise, calling Wilders a courageous leader who understood that Israel and Europe “must stand together and fight together.”
Dagan argued that Israeli communities in northern Samaria form a security barrier protecting the country following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. Wilders agreed, saying the situation also affected “the security of Europe and the security of the Netherlands.”
Wilders also visited the family of an Israeli soldier killed in a shooting attack and said he had told the grieving widow that millions of Europeans supported her. The trip underlined how closely Wilders connects Israeli security with his own political campaign against radical Islam in Europe.
The Praise Clashes With Official Dutch Policy
Wilders’ position should not be confused with the official policy of the Dutch government.
The Netherlands supports a negotiated two-state solution and considers Israeli settlements and their expansion in the occupied West Bank contrary to international law. The Dutch government has also been working on measures intended to prevent products originating from settlements it considers unlawful from entering the Dutch market.
In May 2026, the Netherlands joined several countries in calling on Israel to halt settlement expansion, oppose annexation and address settler violence. The joint statement said Israeli settlements in the West Bank were illegal and warned that further construction could undermine the possibility of an independent Palestinian state.
Israel disputes that interpretation, citing historical, religious and security claims to the territory. Wilders has firmly aligned himself with the Israeli nationalist position, arguing that Jewish settlement strengthens Israel and contributes to European security.
His admiration for Netanyahu is also politically sensitive because the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister in November 2024. The court alleged that Netanyahu bears responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity connected to the Gaza conflict. An arrest warrant is not a conviction, and Netanyahu has rejected the accusations and challenged the court’s jurisdiction. The ICC continues to list him as being at large.
Wilders’ call for more leaders like Netanyahu therefore lands as more than a friendly endorsement. It presents Netanyahu’s confrontational security doctrine as a model for Europe and highlights the growing divide between Wilders’ politics and the foreign policy pursued by the Dutch government.
No verified public response from Netanyahu to this specific statement had been identified at the time of writing. For Wilders, however, the message was already unmistakable: Europe does not need softer leadership. In his view, it needs leaders prepared to fight the way Netanyahu does.
