 The Dutch parliament asked the government Friday to draft legislation compelling mosques to employ only imams who have studied Islamic religion in the Netherlands. The proposal, supported by the government and the opposition, came after a debate in which Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's government was accused of underestimating Islamic terrorism and failing to protect a filmmaker killed by a suspected Muslim radical on Nov. 2. Theo van Gogh's killing has triggered a cycle of retaliatory attacks on Islamic buildings and Christian churches that shocked this traditionally peaceful and tolerant nation. In a sometimes testy debate over the slaying, lawmakers pushed the government to shut down hate-mongering Web sites and broadcasters and to improve monitoring of foreign imams who come to preach at any of the Netherlands' 500 or so mosques.
Balkenende promised "a hard-line approach to those who want to wreck" Dutch society. His government promised more money to combat terrorism and a stricter monitoring of foreign funding of Dutch mosques. It also proposed giving police greater powers to conduct searches, detain terrorist suspects and access their bank accounts. A vote on the proposal for Dutch-educated imams was delayed. Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner said it may be discriminatory unless applied to all religions. If passed, it would take effect in 2008.
The government narrowly escaped a confidence motion based on its anti-terrorism record that has generated much criticism, even from government supporters. Jozias van Aartsen, leader of Balkenende's Liberal allies, said the government had been "lax" and gave "fuzzy explanations" why the man charged with Van Gogh's murder was not tracked more closely even though he consorted with hard-core Islamists on a government watch list. "Not all Muslims are terrorists," he said, "but there are a large number of terrorists in this world that feel attached to an identity as Muslim. They want to destroy us."
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