Friday came the good news: Amsterdam public prosecutors Birgit van Roessel and Paul Velleman declared Dutch freedom fighter Geert Wilders not guilty of discrimination against Muslims and inciting hatred against them. But his trial continues: the prosecutors’ decision is not final. A judge will issue a ruling on November 5, and he doesn’t have to follow the prosecutors’ recommendations. So the freedom of speech still hangs in the balance in the Netherlands, as well as in Europe and the West in general.

Islamic correctness, which criminalizes any criticism of Islam, is a rising force in the world, and not merely in Muslim-majority countries. Even in traditionally tolerant Holland, a combination of misguided liberal multiculturalism and a fear of violence from immigrants has led to a sometimes farcical prosecution.

There has always been one reason to expect that the criminal case would fail against Geert Wilders, the influential Dutch politician accused of "hate speech" due to his negative views on Islam. That's because the prosecutors tasked with bringing charges against him never wanted to do so.

Lewis Lionized and Wilders Demonized for Expressing Identical Views on the Totalitarian Nature of Islam

Our uninformed chattering classes across the political spectrum need to know that their eminence grise on Islamic civilization, Professor Bernard Lewis, and outspoken Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders, have a shared understanding of totalitarian Islam. Ironically, Wilders has been demonized—and is currently being prosecuted—for expressing views identical to those the Western sage of Islam Lewis put forth in a 1954 essay.