A renowned rabbi from the Netherlands said he would leave the political party he has been a part of since 20 years as an act of protest against its leader’s praise for “Judeo-Christian society”, which he says excludes Muslims.

Lody van de Kamp, a left-leaning activist for Jewish-Muslim dialogue, expressed his intention to leave the Christian-Democratic Appeal (CDA) while giving an interview to the Het Parool daily.

Earlier that day, the CDA had inked a power-sharing deal with three other coalition partners on the formation of a cabinet which would work towards making illegal immigrants leave the country.

The deal in the Netherlands, which is one of Israel’s staunchest allies in Western Europe, also mentioned for the first time in such a document about the need to create an ‘independent’ Palestinian state.

“Suddenly we’re talking about our ‘Judeo-Christian society’,” said van de Kamp, referring to a speech that CDA leader Sybrand Buma last month delivered at a school. “It obscures a hidden thought, that we don’t want the Muslims here, and that makes me uncomfortable,” van de Kamp said.

A leftwing outlier of CDA, van de Kamp angered many Jews and non-Jews in 2015, when he partially dismissed some apprehensions over the increasing hatred of Jews in the Netherlands, saying “for many Dutch Jews, anti-Semitism has become a hobby.”