Wilders experienced the Arab threat to the young Jewish state from the front row. He regularly had to flee to the shelter with his fellow growers. Then Palestinian terrorists had infiltrated Israeli territory from Jordan. Occasionally Wilders saw how Israeli helicopters attacked them with magnesium bombs. Impressive for Wilders : 'We didn't even see something like that on TV in Holland. I was not naive, but the experience was intense.'

Wilders had now had a short-lived marriage. He met his current wife, a Jewish-Hungarian diplomat, in a pub in The Hague. The couple has deliberately remained childless to focus on their careers.