Gideon "Gidi" Markuszower (born 27 October 1977) is an

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i– Dutch politician of the

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( , PVV) is a right-wing populist, far-right political party in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders is the founder, party leader, and sole registered member of the party. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Wilders' one-ma ...

(PVV). He became a member of the Netherlands Senate on 9 June 2015. In the

2017 Dutch general election General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 15 March 2017 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives. The incumbent government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte was the first to s ...

he was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

, and gave up his Senate seat. He was fourth on the Party for Freedom list in the 2023 Dutch general election, and therefore continued his term as a member of the House of Representatives.

Political career

He was a spokesperson for Likud Netherlands between 1999 and 2005 and board member between 1999 and 2015, when he resigned from the party to become a member of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. He also served as political advisor to Member of Parliament Anton van Schijndel ( VVD) until 1 December 2006. Markuszower was arrested in 2008 for illegally carrying a firearm while performing security work at a celebration of Israel's 60–year existence. He stated that he had violated transportation restrictions of his

firearms license A firearms license (also known as a gun license; or licence in British English) is a license or permit issued by a government authority (typically by the police) of a jurisdiction, that allows the licensee to buy, own, possess, or carry a f ...

, but charges were later dropped by the prosecution. Markuszower was placed on the Party for Freedom list for the 2010 general election. However, he withdrew himself as a candidate after party leader

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives. Wilders is best known for his right-wing p ...

had been informed of findings by the

General Intelligence and Security Service The General Intelligence and Security Service ( ; AIVD) is the intelligence and security agency of the Netherlands, tasked with domestic, foreign and signals intelligence and protecting national security as well as assisting the Five Eyes in i ...

(AIVD). It had concluded that Markuszower was involved in an organization that had shared information with "a foreign power" and that he had been in contact with a foreign intelligence agency, suspected to be the Israeli

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

. In the 2015 Dutch Senate election Markuszower, who was in fifth place on the Party for Freedom's candidate list, was elected to the Senate. He took his seat on 9 June 2015. He become the chairman for committee for Immigration and Asylum, and for Justice and Home Affairs. In

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, Markuszower was elected to the House of Representative, after being placed fourth on the Party for Freedom's candidate list. As a consequence he stepped down from the Senate. In November 2017, Markuszower called for the general public to be able to appoint judges, a task for House of Representatives and council members. In 2018, Markuszower took over the co-defense of a private member's bill from

concerning the detention of suspects in the interest of national security. He was supported by Machiel de Graaf and Sietse Fritsma. In 2021, Markuszower referred to the Dutch immigration policy as a "major crime against the Dutch people," for which those politicians responsible should be tried by a tribunal. When Ukrainian refugees entered the Netherlands following Russia's invasion of the country, he complained that the Netherlands was paying their rent and utilities. Markuszower has voiced his support of a

proposed Israeli annexation of the West Bank The annexation of the West Bank, or parts thereof, to Israel has been considered by Israeli politicians since the area was captured and occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. East Jerusalem was the first part of the West Bank to be an ...

, and he has met with

Yossi Dagan Yossi Dagan () is an Israeli activist and politician who has been the head of the Shomron Regional Council since August 2015. Dagan grew up in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak in the Pardes Katz neighborhood. When he was in the tenth grade, he mo ...

, chair of the

Shomron Regional Council The Shomron Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Shomron'', English ''Samaria Regional Council'') is an Israeli regional council in the northern portion of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Thirty-five Israeli settlements fall under its jurisdict ...

. He has advocated ending money transfers of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

organizations in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. Markuszower received a third House term in the 2023 general election, and he has served as the PVV's spokesperson for migration, asylum, and terrorism before changing to European affairs. He was selected to serve as Minister of Asylum and Migration and as First Deputy Prime Minister in June 2024 as part of the

Schoof cabinet The Schoof cabinet is the current demissionary cabinet of the Netherlands, sworn in on 2 July 2024. Led by independent politician and civil servant Dick Schoof as prime minister of the Netherlands, the cabinet was formed after the 2023 Dutch gen ...

, but Geert Wilders withdrew his nomination shortly after as a result of his

background check A background check is a process used by an organisation or person to verify that an individual is who they claim to be, and check their past record to confirm education, employment history, and other activities, and for a criminal record. The fr ...

by the AIVD. Markuszower called his situation

Kafkaesque Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of real ...

Personal life

Markuszower is a descendant of a prominent

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family that held many administrative positions within the Jewish community in the Netherlands. For example, his father was chairman of Jewish Special Education for many years, and his brother was chairman of the Nieuw Israëlitisch Weekblad. Markuszower has family in Israel and visits the country often. He speaks fluent Hebrew. Markuszower has also devoted many years to serving the Jewish community in the Netherlands. For example, he has been administratively involved in The Jewish Community of Amsterdam (NIHS) and Bij Leven en Welzijn. Additionally, he has been a member of the Centraal Joods Overleg, a spokesperson for

Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...

Netherlands, director of Jewish youth organizations such as Bnei Akiva and various student associations, and treasurer of the Dutch Israelite Denomination.

Electoral history

Notes

References

External links

*
Mr. G. (Gidi) Markuszower
Parlement.com *
Mr. G. Markuszower (PVV)
Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal {{DEFAULTSORT:Markuszower, Gidi 1977 births Living people Dutch corporate directors Dutch political consultants Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Israeli corporate directors Israeli emigrants to the Netherlands Jewish Dutch politicians Jewish Israeli politicians Likud politicians Dutch MPs 2023– People from Amstelveen Politicians from Tel Aviv Party for Freedom politicians People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians University of Amsterdam alumni Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni Dutch MPs 2017–2021 Dutch MPs 2021–2023 Party for Freedom senators Party for Freedom MPs