Geert Wilders, the Dutch far-right firebrand whose anti-Islam party is likely to make huge gains in Wednesday's elections in The Netherlands, has showed many times empathy and love for Israel.

In his youth he lived in a moshav in the Jordan valley for two years and he still have many contacts with many parties and leaders in Israeli politics. He said more than once that Dutch-Israeli relations "will only be strengthened" if he becomes Prime Minister.

The leader of the Freedom Party (PVV) also told Israel's Channel 2 that not only would the Jewish community be safer if his party comes to power, but so would Christians and all Dutch citizens who have had to "fear for their freedom since Islam and freedom are totally incompatible." '' I feel in Israel like at home. It's a country with which we share the same values,'' he said.

Wilders added that in "every country where the Islamic ideology is dominant already you see a total lack of civic society, rule of law, and a free parliament."

The Israeli leadership knows Wilders from his many travels to Israel and up to now they have considered him with many precautions. Although the European populist parties seem to be much more friendly to Israel than the left parties, the traditional fear of Jews about European extreme right brought Israel to keep a certain distance with those parties.

In the last months, the Israeli foreign ministry has been studying carefully the phenomenom and is trying to understand how and if it is worth to improve the relations with the European populist parties.

"The case of Wilders is a bit different than the other populist leaders of the other European parties," Dr Esther Lopatin, Director of the Center for European Studies at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, told European Jewish Press (EJP).

‘’His love for israel seems really authentic. Many israelis are really surprised to hear from European far right leaders, pro-Israeli words. It is however important to understand that the love of the far right parties for Israel doesn't come from pure love, bust mostly from hate for radical Islam. Also the Europeans are beginning now to look at the Jews as the founding fathers more than to a enemy of christianity, as it was. "

Wilders has repeatedly said he believes he is on a mission to halt “the Islamization” of the West. “I’m not saying that all Muslims are bad people or are terrorists, that would be ridiculous,” he added.

“But I believe in any country where Islam is more dominant… you see a total lack of freedom, democracy, rule of law, civil society.”

Dr. Emanuel Navon, an International Relations expert who teaches at Tel Aviv University and at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, said in an interview to EJP that Wilders is certanly pro-Israeli, but " it is important to remember that Israel is not the first thought of European politicians. He doesn’t have a problematic past like Jean-Marie Le Pen and he is not anti-Semitic like the leader of the populist party in Greece but Israel and its problems is not a very important issue for him. "

Ephraim Eisenmann, who lived in Holland before moving to Israel 40 years ago, is very suspicious. ‘’Wilders may be pro-Israeli but there is no doubt that in his party there are many antisemites. His statements are based on my opinion on racism, The relations between Holland and Israele has always been very good, I do not expect any particular change if Wilders will be elected,’’ says the chairman of the association of new immigrants from Holland.