Amsterdam Mulls Axing Dole for Women in Burqas

Even as a number of the United States extend “in-state resident” tuition rates to illegal aliens, the generally tolerant Dutch are cracking down on welfare rights for legal Muslim female residents who seek welfare since their used of the burqa prevents them from being hired to work.

An official in Holland’s biggest city wants to introduce legislation that would ban unemployed women who wear a burqa from receiving welfare payments if it prevents them from finding a job….If this burqa is keeping you from getting a job, Amsterdam Social Affairs Alderman Ahmed Aboutaleb argues, you shouldn’t be wearing it. If this burqa is keeping you from getting a job, Amsterdam Social Affairs Alderman Ahmed Aboutaleb argues, you shouldn’t be wearing it.

The Multicultural Netherlands is having a serious identity crisis. These days, the country’s immigrant melting pot is feeling more like a powderkeg. The latest spark in Holland’s mini culture war came this week from the social affairs alderman for the city of Amsterdam, who says women who wear burqas are having trouble finding jobs. His solution? Take it off or lose your benefits.

What really makes this unusual is the identiy of the alderman:

Ahmed Aboutaleb has proposed introducing legislation that would allow the city to cut welfare payments to women who insist on wearing a burqa if it can prove the full-body covering is the reason she can’t find a job.

“Nobody wants to hire someone with a burqa,” he told the Dutch women’s magazine Opzij. “In that case, I say: off with the burka and apply for work. If you don’t want to do that, that’s fine, but you don’t get a benefit payment.” Aboutaleb, a member of Amsterdam’s Labor Party (PvdA) and a Dutch citizen of Moroccan descent…

Good for him. Maybe there IS such a thing as a moderate, secularist muslim.