Survey: Three-Quarters of Dutch Muslims Applaud Syrian Rebels
THE HAGUE, 29/05/13 - Nearly three-quarters of Dutch Muslims welcome the fact that fellow-believers from the Netherlands travel to Syria to join the fight against the Assad regime, according to a survey carried out by Motivaction and commissioned by public broadcaster NCRV's TV programme Altijd Wat.
The Syria fighters are seen by an overwhelming majority of 73 percent of the Muslims as heroes. These boys are, in their view doing what the United Nations is neglecting to do: Providing active support for the rebels. Motivaction only polled the biggest groups of Muslims, and those most closely involved with the conflict. Moroccan and Turkish Dutch were approached, but not Islamic Surinamese and Indonesians. Indigenous Islam converts were filtered out of the “representative sample survey,” according to the bureau. Most Dutch Muslims consider that no obstacles should be put in the way of potential Syria travellers. They do not want them to be subject to preventive arrest, let alone persecution. The majority of the Muslims see the Syrian travellers as fighters for the right. Only one quarter see them as Jihadists. The specific Muslim groups identify strongly with the battle raging in Syria. They follow the news via Turkish and Arabic broadcasters, which show gruesome pictures. Among the Turkish Dutch, the fact that Turkey is a neighbour of Syria also plays a role. The Muslims surveyed are also much more prepared (80 percent) than the indigenous (20 percent) to donate money for Syrian refugees. Also on the topic of weapons supplies to the rebels, there is a gulf between the indigenous and Muslims. Nearly half (49 percent) of the Muslims are in favour of this, compared with just 6 percent of the indigenous. |
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