FILE – In this April 13, 2015 file photo Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders as he speaks at a rally of so-called ‘Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West’ (PEGIDA) in Dresden, Germany. Geert Wilders says on Wednesday, June 3, 2015 he plans to show cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad on Dutch television airtime reserved for political parties after Parliament refused to display them, in a move likely to deeply offend Muslims. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File) 
Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, speaks during a Senate session this January file photo from The Associated Press. Ketron said Thursday he is being treated for non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a type of cancer.A controversial Dutch politician, who says Islam is an “existential threat to Western civilization,” is attending the Republican National Convention in Cleveland courtesy of a Tennessee state senator who shares some of the same views.
Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro said he invited Geert Wilders, whom he knows, to the convention at the request of Wilders, who is at the leader of the right-wing Party for Freedom.
“When he called me some time back and asked me if I could get him as a guest, I said I’d be happy to do that,” Ketron said Monday in a telephone interview. “He’s here to observe democracy at its best and maybe implement it back in his country.”
Ketron said he doesn’t dislike Muslims but does share Wilder’s concerns about the potential imposition of Shariah, an Islamic body of religious codes and laws, in the U.S.
“They need to come here and assimilate and live under our laws and not come here without assimilating and try to force their laws on our country,” Ketron said.
Ketron said he met the Dutch politician after a 2011 bill he introduced in Tennessee that originally sought to ban Sharia, which drew objections. It was later amended to deal with any group providing material support to terrorists and then passed.
Wilders accompanied Ketron to an earlier brunch today hosted by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker. On Sundaynight, Wilders tweeted he would be coming to the convention at the invitiation of the Tennessee Republican Party.
Tennessee Democratic Party spokesman Spencer Bowers seized on the Wilders’ invitation, charging in a statement that “when you look at the current leader of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, it is no surprise at all that the TNGOP would invite a notoriously racist rightwinger, who is currently on trial for inciting hate speech, to be their guest at the RNC convention.”
Bowers added that “what is worse is that Rep. Ketron has said that he agrees with the hate speech that Wilders spews. This is just more proof that the Tennessee Republican Party is out of touch with Tennessee and a total embarrassment to everyone who lives and works here.”
Ibrahim Hooper, communications director with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on the Republican Party “to disinvite notorious Dutch Islamophobe Geert Wilders from its national convention.”
“The Republican Party should not be importing foreign anti-Muslim bigots at a time when it should instead be addressing the growing Islamophobia within its own ranks,” Hooper said.
Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro said he invited Geert Wilders, whom he knows, to the convention at the request of Wilders, who is at the leader of the right-wing Party for Freedom.
“When he called me some time back and asked me if I could get him as a guest, I said I’d be happy to do that,” Ketron said Monday in a telephone interview. “He’s here to observe democracy at its best and maybe implement it back in his country.”
Ketron said he doesn’t dislike Muslims but does share Wilder’s concerns about the potential imposition of Shariah, an Islamic body of religious codes and laws, in the U.S.
“They need to come here and assimilate and live under our laws and not come here without assimilating and try to force their laws on our country,” Ketron said.
Ketron said he met the Dutch politician after a 2011 bill he introduced in Tennessee that originally sought to ban Sharia, which drew objections. It was later amended to deal with any group providing material support to terrorists and then passed.
Wilders accompanied Ketron to an earlier brunch today hosted by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker. On Sundaynight, Wilders tweeted he would be coming to the convention at the invitiation of the Tennessee Republican Party.
Tennessee Democratic Party spokesman Spencer Bowers seized on the Wilders’ invitation, charging in a statement that “when you look at the current leader of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, it is no surprise at all that the TNGOP would invite a notoriously racist rightwinger, who is currently on trial for inciting hate speech, to be their guest at the RNC convention.”
Bowers added that “what is worse is that Rep. Ketron has said that he agrees with the hate speech that Wilders spews. This is just more proof that the Tennessee Republican Party is out of touch with Tennessee and a total embarrassment to everyone who lives and works here.”