Government says it cannot stop Ye concerts, CJO goes to court

The government has no powers to ban Ye, the controversial rapper known as Kanye West, from performing in the Netherlands this summer despite his history of anti-Semitic comments, ministers have concluded.

Claudia van Bruggen, junior minister for legal protection, told parliament that the singer’s two upcoming concerts in Arnhem would be closely monitored. “If Ye crosses the line, we will respond,” she said.

A majority of MPs earlier called for the 48-year-old, formerly known as Kanye West to be barred from entering the country, following the example of countries such as the UK, Canada and Australia.

The Wireless Festival in July was cancelled, where he was booked as the headline act, was cancelled after British government withdrew his travel authorisation.

Ye’s two concerts at the GelreDome on June 6 and 8 were authorised last week by the mayor of Arnhem, Ahmed Marcouch, who said he could only refuse a permit on public safety grounds, not for moral reasons.

The Jewish rights organisation Centraal Joods Overleg (CJO) is to seek an injunction in court forcing the government to stop Ye entering the country on public safety grounds. They argue that Dutch Jews will feel unsafe if his performances go ahead.

Van Bruggen told MPs an investigation had concluded that Ye was unlikely to make inflammatory comments at his concerts, not least because he had apologised for his earlier anti-Semitic remarks.

But Diederik van Dijk, of the orthodox Protestant SGP party, said: “While the Jewish community here is increasingly under fire, we are welcoming a man who wrote a song with the title ‘Heil Hitler’.”

Ye also advertised T-shirts with swastikas on his website last year, before withdrawing them following an outcry.

In January he took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal apologising for his previous anti-Semitic behaviour, which he blamed on bipolar disorder, and promising to “show change through my actions.”