Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Dutch citizenship rescinded

Hot Air blogged She was going to resign from parliament in September, then move to the U.S. Change of plans: she’s resigning effective immediately, thanks to Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk’s ruling that Hirsi Ali was never a legal citizen of the Netherlands in the first place.

I am sorry to see this happen, but she will probably be safer here, because the Dutch did not seem that interested in protecting her.

Robert Spencer is mortified and quotes a reader who says this could have serious complications for her U.S. visa. I tend to doubt that, if only because the outcry from American conservatives will be fierce if Condoleezza Rice doesn’t make it happen. The good news? Verdonk might have bitten off more than she can chew. Spencer also notes a report that Verdonk is facing a monster backlash from Hirsi Ali’s party — and that the government could fall over it.

It servs them right.

Here’s an excerpt from the statement she issued today after resigning from parliament:

I am completely certain that I have, in my own way, succeeded in contributing to the debate. Issues related to Islam - such as impediments to free speech; refusal of the separation of Church and State; widespread domestic violence; honor killings; the repudiation of wives; and Islam’s failure to condemn genital mutilation — these subjects can no longer be swept under the carpet in our country’s capital. Some of the measures that this government has begun taking give me satisfaction.

They need to take a lot more measures.

Many illusions of how easy it will be to establish a multicultural society have disappeared forever. We are now more realistic and more open in this debate, and I am proud to have contributed to that process…

[M]ay I say that it is difficult to live with so many threats on your life and such a level of police protection. It is difficult to work as a parliamentarian if you have nowhere to live. All that is difficult, but not impossible. It has become impossible since last night, when Minister Verdonk informed me that she would strip me of my Dutch citizenship.

I am therefore preparing to leave Holland. But the questions for our society remain. The future of Islam in our country; the subjugation of women in Islamic culture; the integration of the many Muslims in the West: it is self-deceit to imagine that these issues will disappear.

The issues will not disappear as long as there are brave people like Ayaan Hirsi Ali to raise them