AMSTERDAM — The Netherlands raised its alert level for terrorist attacks to "substantial" on Wednesday, citing an increase in the number of Islamist militants traveling from the Netherlands to Syria, as well as a radicalization of Dutch youth.

"The chance of an attack in the Netherlands or against Dutch interests abroad has risen," the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism (NCTV) said in a statement.

"Close to a hundred individuals have recently left the Netherlands for various countries in Africa and the Middle East, especially Syria."

The agency said individuals fighting for radical Islam abroad could return and "inspire others in the Netherlands to follow in their footsteps."

Political changes in the Middle East and North Africa have made space for an expansion of radical Islamic groups that are no longer under the control of security forces, the agency said.

Dutch police and intelligence services have deployed extra personnel to investigate suspect individuals and monitor sources, the agency said.

The Netherlands has not suffered a major terrorist attack, but a radical Dutchman of Moroccan origin murdered the provocative filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who was critical of multiculturalism and of Islam, in Amsterdam in 2004.

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Moroccan women protest the scheduled arrival of a Dutch ship advocating safe and legal abortions in Smir, Morocco Thursday oct 4 2012. Their signs read "no to abortion." Moroccan authorities sealed a port where a Dutch abortion ship was set to arrive, while demonstrators protested against its arrival.

Morocco barred Dutch abortion rights activists Thursday from docking their campaign ship to spread awareness about safe abortion methods in a Muslim country that bans the practice.

Women on Waves announced last week its intention to send their ship into the Moroccan port of Smir after visits to traditionally Roman Catholic countries Spain, Portugal and Ireland at the invitation of local women's groups. Such visits began 11 years ago, the BBC reported.

The group says it intends to raise awareness about the use of pills for medical abortions and that it would carry out terminations of pregnancies aboard its own ship on international waters.

Earlier Thursday, Marlies Schellekens, a doctor from Women on Waves, said that Smir harbour was "totally blocked by warships so no one can get in," a day after Rabat said the activists would be barred from arriving by sea.

Rebecca Gomperts, the founder of Women on Waves, told the BBC the group planned to launch "a surprise" in response, but she did not provide further details.

But Moroccan sources later said Women on Waves had actually sent only a yacht into Smir several days ago rather than their usual larger main campaign ship in the apparent expectation that Morocco would not let the group in anyway.

"The yacht has now left Smir to head back home. It was a publicity stunt," an official source said.

"The organizers took everyone for a ride ... The people (in the yacht) stayed aboard and did not complete immigration procedures that would have allowed them to enter Moroccan territory."

Women on Waves had been invited to Morocco by local rights group Alternative Movement for Individual Freedoms (MALI).

According to the BBC, Women on Waves wanted to publicize the fact that an abortion-inducement drug is already available to women in Morocco, but most are unaware of it.

The group told the BBC it had also launched a hotline for women to obtain information about contraception and abortion.

In Morocco, as in other Muslim states, abortion is illegal and punishable by up to 20 years in prison. But hundreds of illegal abortions are carried out daily in underground clinics or using herbal medicines, sometimes causing death or injury. Women on Waves told the BBC between 600 and 800 abortions take place every day in Morocco.

Each year hundreds of Moroccan single mothers are forced to abandon or give up their babies for adoption because of the stigma linked to abortion and pre-marital pregnancy.

"I understand that (the visit) is seen as a provocation by some religious groups. But this is about women's health. It has nothing to do with religion," Gomperts, told AFP by phone earlier this week.

On Wednesday Interior Minister Mohand Laenser, a secular member of the government led since December by moderate Islamists, said the Women on Waves would not be allowed into Morocco. "The organizers have never contacted us to seek permission to visit Morocco," Laenser told Reuters.

The Moroccan Association Against Clandestine Abortion said in June that legislation on abortion was out of step with social realities in the country and the number of unsafe abortions showed the need for a political commitment to legal reform.

Organizers of an all-gay cruise in June said Moroccan officials had canceled what would have been the first visit of its kind to a Muslim country.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Dutch politician Geert Wilders speaks Sept. 11, 2010, at a New York demonstration against the proposed Islamic cultural center and mosque in lower Manhattan on the ninth anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington.

Anti-Islam groups in America have provided financial support to Dutch politician Geert Wilders, an anti-immigration campaigner who is seeking re-election to the Dutch parliament this week, a Reuters investigation has revealed.

While that is not illegal in the Netherlands, it sheds light on the international connections of Wilders, whose Freedom Party is the least transparent Dutch parliamentary group and a rallying point for Europe's far right.

Wilders' party is self-funded, unlike other Dutch parties that are subsidized by the government. It does not, therefore, have to meet the same disclosure requirements.

Groups in the United States seeking to counter Islamic influence in the West say they funded police protection and paid legal costs for Wilders, whose party is polling in fourth place before the Sept. 12 election.

Some ideas gain tranction
Wilders' ideas -- calling for a total halt to non-Western immigration and bans on Muslim headscarfs and the construction of mosques -- have struck a chord in mainstream politics beyond the Netherlands.

France banned clothing that covers the face in April 2011 and Belgium followed suit in July of the same year. Switzerland barred the construction of new minarets following a referendum in 2009.

The Middle East Forum, a pro-Israeli think tank based in Philadelphia, funded Wilders' legal defense in 2010 and 2011 against Dutch charges of inciting racial hatred, its director Daniel Pipes said.

The Middle East Forum has a stated goal, according to its website, of protecting the "freedom of public speech of anti-Islamist authors, promoting American interests in the Middle East and protecting the constitutional order from Middle Eastern threats." It sent money directly to Wilders' lawyer via its Legal Project, Pipes said.

Represented by Dutch criminal lawyer Bram Moscowitz, Wilders successfully defended himself against the charges, which were brought by prosecutors in Amsterdam on behalf of groups representing minorities from Turkey, Morocco and other countries with Muslim populations.

The case heard in October 2010 was filed in response to Wilders' comments in the Dutch media about Muslims and his film "Fitna," which interlays images of terrorist attacks with quotations from the Koran and prompted protests by Muslims in Islamic countries worldwide. The court found he had stayed within the limits of free speech.

Dutch candidates hold debate before elections

Pipes declined to say how much his group paid for Wilders' defense.

Moscowitz declined to discuss payments for Wilder's defense citing client confidentiality.

Wilders said in an emailed statement that his legal expenses were paid for with the help of voluntary donations from defenders of freedom of speech.

"I do not answer questions of who they are and what they have paid. This could jeopardize their safety," Wilders said.

Robin Utrecht / EPA, file

Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, kicks off his election campaign in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on Aug. 24, ahead of the country's Sept. 12 general elections.

Visits to the united States
Wilders, 49, became a member of Dutch parliament in 2006, campaigning against Islam, which he calls a threat to Dutch culture and Western values. He called Islam a violent political ideology and vowed never to enter a mosque, "not in 100,000 years". His party gained 24 seats in the 150-seat lower house in June 2010.

He has been under 24-hour security for eight years after receiving death threats from radical Muslim groups in the Netherlands and abroad. Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik cited anti-Islamic comments by Wilders in an online manifesto that sought to justify his crimes. Wilders has denounced Breivik and his actions.

David Horowitz, who runs a network of Los Angeles-based conservative groups and a website called FrontPage magazine, said he paid Wilders fees for making two speeches, security costs during student protests and overnight accommodation for his Dutch bodyguards during a 2009 U.S. trip.

Rabbi warns Dutch populist Wilders over ritual slaughter ban

Horowitz said he paid Wilders for one speech in Los Angeles and one at Temple University in Philadelphia. He declined to specify the amounts, but said that Wilders had received "a good fee."

When Wilders' Philadelphia appearance sparked student protests, Horowitz said, he paid a special security fee of about $1,500 to the Philadelphia police department. Horowitz said he also paid for overnight accommodation for four or five Dutch government bodyguards accompanying Wilders on the trip.

Wilders said in response: "I am frequently asked to speak abroad. Whenever possible I accept these invitations. I never ask for a fee. However, sometimes the travel and accommodation expenses are paid. My personal security is always paid for by the Dutch government."

Dutch populist Wilders bets on anti-euro vote

Pipes and Horowitz denied funding Wilders' political activities in Holland. Both run non-profit, tax exempt research and policy organizations which, under U.S. tax laws, are forbidden from giving direct financial backing to any political candidate or party. U.S. law does allow such groups to support policy debates financially.

During Wilders' visit to Los Angeles, where Horowitz runs an organization called the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Horowitz said he organized an event at which Danish cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammed were auctioned. He said he did not remember how much money this event raised or what happened to the proceeds.

Horowitz agreed with the Dutchman's repeated, public comparison of the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf. Comparing the two works was a "fair analogy," Horowitz said. He said Wilders was "fighting the good fight."

Barred from Britain in 2009
Horowitz said U.S. backers helped Wilders raise money to pay legal fees to fight a ban from visiting Britain in 2009, where he planned to screen Fitna.

The British government said at the time: "The Government opposes extremism in all its forms. The decision to refuse Wilders admission was taken on the basis that his presence could have inflamed tensions between our communities and have led to inter-faith violence."

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Wilders won an appeal in the British courts in October 2009 when the ban was overturned.

Wilders has other supporters in the United States, such as Pamela Geller, who runs Stop Islamization of America and has backed Wilders in public statements. Geller remains a supporter. She says she does not provide Wilders with financial assistance.

Wilders has not revealed how his political activities are paid for. Freedom Party officials have said he has no personal funds and almost entirely relies on foreign donations. Like other Dutch political parties, members of parliament for the Freedom Party have been allocated 165,000 euros ($211,200) per year for expenses. Former Freedom Party officials speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters that the money, nearly 4 million euros ($5.1 million) per year, went to the party and has not been accounted for.

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Wilders said in his emailed response that former Freedom Party officials making such allegations were bitter and spiteful. "These people have other motives than telling the truth," he said.

"Our party has a 60 euro ($76) annual budget. The rumors about millions of euros in sponsoring are complete nonsense. A Freedom Party-related foundation receives donations from Dutch or foreign sources, but these are modest amounts of money and certainly never millions," it continued.

The Dutch government turned down requests for additional information about Freedom Party finances.

"I do not possess relevant information or documents" about the Freedom party finances or campaign contributions because the party does not receive subsidies, Dutch Minister for Internal Affairs Liesbeth Spies said in a written response.

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Robin van Helsum, the "Forest Boy" who hoaxed German authorities for nine months with a fantasy about living rough in the woods, was running away from a troubled background and financial concerns, a friend of his told NBC News.

Ray van Ravensberg, Robin's childhood friend, shed new light on the Dutchman whose story -- and supposed mystery identity -- flummoxed police in Berlin and attracted headlines around the world. 

Van Helsum's scam was exposed last week after he was identified by his stepmother in The Netherlands following the distribution of a police photograph. 

Van Ravensberg said van Helsum, who ran away from home in Hengelo, a Dutch town near the border with Germany in September, came from a broken home, did not get along with his stepmother and fought constantly with his father, who was very strict.

"He started to stop with school and stop with work, and the only thing he did was sitting on the computer and, yeah, just screwing around."

'Forest Boy' mystery solved: Man admits lies over identity

Van Ravensberg said van Helsum moved out of the house and went for "room training" -- a Dutch program in which teenagers with problems at home are put into a government care program and live with groups of people their own age from similar backgrounds -- a type of youth hostel.

But then van Helsum got into more trouble, becoming a loner, spending hours on the computer and arguing with the owners of the hostel because he could no longer pay his bills.

"His life was really complicated," van Ravensberg said as he struggled to explain his friend. "He doesn’t have anything like I do -- he doesn’t have parents who will cover [him] if [he's] in financial debt, like I do. [My parents] will help me, I can talk to them."

Van Ravensberg went on to explain that a young woman whom van Helsum dated a few times, perhaps for some financial help, became pregnant.

"First she said she was a few weeks pregnant, but she was already pregnant for a longer period of time, and he didnt want to have the child, and she wanted to keep it."

That might have been the turning point for van Helsum. Shortly afterward, he ran away, determined to escape and start a new life somewhere, somehow.

'Forest boy' mystery: Stumped German police release photo

Van Ravensberg said van Helsum is really smart and proved it by staying nine months in Germany without getting caught.

When he arrived in Germany, van Helsum told the police his name was Ray and he was a 17-year-old orphan -- that’s all he could remember.

The act was convincing. The Germans were intrigued by his story and provided him with care. The fantasy about living rough for five years in the German forests was so heart-rending that he became an international sensation. No one thought he could have made it up. But he did.

Van Ravensberg defended his old friend. "It started with his own life. He already had complications, and it became more and more -- financial, girlfriend, child and, yeah, his bucket was way too full.

"He just wanted to have a new bucket."

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This country of canals and tulips is also famous for "coffee shops" where joints and cappuccinos share the menu. Now, the Netherlands' famed tolerance for drugs could be going up in smoke.

A judge on Friday upheld a government plan to ban foreign tourists from buying marijuana by introducing a "weed pass" available only to Dutch citizens and permanent residents.

The new regulation reins in one of the country's most cherished symbols of tolerance — its laissez-faire attitude toward soft drugs — and reflects the drift away from a long-held view of the Netherlands as a free-wheeling utopia.

For many tourists visiting Amsterdam the image endures, and smoking a joint in a canal-side coffee shop ranks high on their to-do lists, along with visiting cultural highlights such as the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House.

Worried that tourism will take a hit, the city's mayor, Eberhard van der Laan, is hoping to hammer out a compromise with the national government, which relies on municipalities and local police to enforce its drug policies.

Relaxing outside The Bulldog, a coffee shop in downtown Amsterdam, Gavin Harrison and Ian Leigh of Northern Ireland said they hoped the city wouldn't change.

"I think it's going to be a shame for Amsterdam, I think it's going to lose a lot of tourists," Harrison said.

Leigh said he had been visiting Amsterdam for a decade and had noticed the erosion of tolerance over the years. "It's taking a step back," he said.

Weed fairy and others celebrate cannabis and protest for legalization

Coffee shop owners have not given up the fight. A week ago they mustered a few hundred patrons for a "smoke-out" in downtown Amsterdam to protest the new restrictions.

A lawyer for the owners, Maurice Veldman, said he would file an appeal against the ruling by The Hague District court, which clears the way for the weed pass to be introduced in southern provinces on Tuesday.

If the government gets its way, the pass will roll out in the rest of the country — including Amsterdam — next year. It will turn coffee shops into private clubs with membership open only to Dutch residents and limited to 2,000 per shop.

The Netherlands has more than 650 coffee shops, 214 of them in Amsterdam. The number has been steadily declining as municipalities imposed tougher regulations, such as shuttering ones close to schools.

Stringer / Reuters

An employee of coffeeshop "Easy Going" weighs weed in Maastricht April 27, 2012.

But the new membership rules are the most significant rollback in years to the traditional Dutch tolerance of marijuana use.

The government argues that the move is justified to crack down on so-called "drug tourists," effectively couriers who drive over the border from neighboring Belgium and Germany to buy large amounts of marijuana and take it home to resell. They cause traffic and public order problems in towns along the Dutch border.

Such issues do not exist in Amsterdam, where most tourists walk or ride bikes and buy pot for their own consumption.

The weed pass "doesn't solve any problems we have here and it could create new problems," said city spokeswoman Tahira Limon.

Many Amsterdam residents agree.

Barring tourists from coffee shops will only drive them into the hands of street dealers, warned Liza Roodhof, unwinding with a friend at an Amsterdam cafe that caters to artsy types.

"If you make it so that tourists can't buy weed in a coffee shop, then they're going to buy it on the street. So you add more problems than you solve," she said.

Her friend Nina Fokker, an actress, also worried about what the ban portends for the Netherlands' image as an open-minded society.

Tolerance "is something beautiful, it has something special, it has something that's authentic about the Netherlands," she said.

It is not just hardcore pot heads taking a toke in the city. Limon said 4 million to 5 million tourists visit Amsterdam each year and around 23 percent say they visit a coffee shop during their stay.

Therese Ariaans of the Dutch tourism board said it was hard to judge the effect on tourism — it could reduce visits from people wanting to smoke pot but increase tourists previously kept away by Amsterdam's seedy side.

"If the result is that there will be fewer visitors to the Netherlands we would regret that," she said.

Amsterdam argues that the reasons coffee shops were first tolerated decades ago are still relevant today — they are well-regulated havens where people can buy soft drugs without coming into contact with dealers of hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

Coffee shops also are banned from serving alcohol and from selling drugs to people under 18.

The government in The Hague said Friday there would be no exceptions to the new rules.

"Amsterdam will also have to enforce this policy," said Job van de Sande, a spokesman for the Ministry of Security and Justice.

The conservative Dutch government introduced the new measures saying it wants to return the shops back to what they were originally intended to be: local shops selling to local people.

However the Dutch government collapsed this week and new elections are scheduled for September. It's unclear whether the new administration will keep the new measures in place.

Coffee shop lawyer Veldman called Friday's ruling a political judgment.

"The judge completely fails to answer the principal question: Can you discriminate against foreigners when there is no public order issue at stake?" he asked.

Coffee shop owners in the southern city of Maastricht have said they plan to disregard the new measure, forcing the government to prosecute them in a test case.

Back in Amsterdam, Leigh hoped the weed pass was a marketing stunt to drum up business.

"It's a recession," he said. "Maybe it's a publicity stunt as well — get people to come over in a mad rush before it happens."

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Ross D. Franklin / AP

Rick Santorum's recent comments on forced euthanasia are causing a stir in the Netherlands.

A Dutch politician wants his government to publicly rebuke Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum for claiming that forced euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands and that the elderly are being killed against their will.

The Dutch Embassy in Washington has declined to comment on Santorum’s recent remarks, The New York Times reported this week. An embassy spokeswoman said the Dutch government wanted to stay out of the American presidential campaign, the Times reported.

On Thursday, Dutch Member of Parliament Frans Timmermans, a leading member of the opposition left-leaning Labor Party in The Hague, blasted his government’s silence.

He wrote in a post on his Facebook page that he wanted Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal to rebuke Santorum for his “scandalous accusations,” The Times reported.

“This cannot be allowed to rest,” he wrote, according to The Times.

Earlier this month, Santorum brought up the subject of euthanasia at a forum hosted by conservative leader James Dobson.

“They have voluntary euthanasia in the Netherlands, but half the people who are euthanized every year, and it’s 10 percent of all deaths, half of those people are euthanized involuntarily in hospitals, because they are older and sick,” Santorum said. “So elderly people in the Netherlands don’t go to the hospital. They go to another country. Because they’re afraid because of budget purposes they will not come out of that hospital if they go in with sickness.”

Santorum also said some Dutch wear bracelets saying, “Don’t euthanize me.”

Santorum’s campaign did not respond to a request from The Times to explain his remarks.

FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan project that monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by U.S. politicians, said Santorum “grossly mischaracterized” euthanasia practices in the Netherlands.

It said the former Pennsylvania senator overstated the rate of euthanasia. Government statistics show euthanasia is climbing but represented only 2.3 percent of all deaths in the Netherlands in 2010, it said.

FactCheck.org said Santorum’s claims that the elderly are being killed against their will and wear “do not euthanize me” bracelets are false.

Dutch euthanasia review boards found nine cases in 2010 where doctors “had not acted in accordance with the due care criteria,” mostly for how the procedure was performed — not because it was against anyone’s will, FactCheck.org said. It added that the Dutch government and medical association say no such “Don’t euthanize me” bracelets exist.

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Miro Kuzmanovic / Reuters, file

Prince Johan Friso poses at the Austrian alpine ski resort of Lech on February 19, 2011. He gave up his right to the Dutch throne when he married a commoner.

AMSTERDAM -- Austrian doctors treating the Dutch Prince Johan Friso said Friday that he suffered "massive brain damage" after being buried by an avalanche last week and he may never regain consciousness.

Doctor Wolfgang Koller said MRI scans had showed his brain may have suffered lasting harm in the avalanche in Lech on Feb. 17.

"It is clear that the oxygen starvation has caused massive brain damage to the patient," Koller said. "At the moment, it cannot be predicted if he will ever regain consciousness."

The 43-year-old prince will be moved at a later date to a private clinic for further treatment but it may take years before he awakens, if ever.

Upscale resort
The prince was skiing with one companion near the upscale western resort of Lech but away from marked ski runs when the mass of snow, about 100 feet wide and 130 feet long, hit them around midday, the Austria Press Agency said.

The Dutch royal family often spends winter holidays in Lech in the province of Vorarlberg, which like other parts of Austria has been blanketed with heavy snow in recent weeks.

Prince Johan Friso's older brother is Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his younger brother is Prince Constantijn.

Johan Friso gave up his right to the Dutch throne when he married a commoner whose past was considered too tainted for her to become a member of the Dutch royal house.

When he asked for official permission in 2003 to marry Mabel Wisse Smit, Dutch media published details of her relationship with mobster Klaas Bruinsma, who was shot and killed in 1991 in front of the Amsterdam Hilton hotel.

Dutch prince's life 'still in danger'

Following the revelations, the couple decided not to get official permission for their marriage.

The London-based prince joined URENCO, a uranium enrichment company, in 2011 as chief financial officer after earlier working at investment bank Goldman Sachs.

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Frank Van Beek / AFP - Getty Images, file

Prince Friso and Princess Mabel on a skiing trip with their daughters Luana and Zaria last winter.

Updated at 4:57 p.m. ET: An avalanche buried and seriously injured the second son of Dutch Queen Beatrix while he skied off marked trails Friday in the westernmost corner of Austria and he was rushed to the intensive care unit of an Innsbruck hospital, officials said.

The Dutch government, which initially said 43-year-old Johan Friso's life was in danger later issued an update saying "his condition is stable but not out of danger."

"Her Majesty the Queen and (Friso's wife) Princess Mabel are with Prince Friso," the Dutch statement said, adding that "doctors treating him will only be able to give a prognosis in a matter of days."

Stefan Jochum, a spokesman for the Lech ski area where the accident occurred, said Friso's condition was serious but his life was no longer at risk.

Jochum said the accident happened early Friday afternoon as the prince and other skiers were on slopes away from marked Lech ski runs and laden with snow after weeks of record falls.

The Lech municipal office said a regional avalanche warning issued for the day was four on the five-point scale, meaning the danger was high.

"A snow slide came down and the prince was buried as the only member of the group," said Jochum in a telephone interview. A rescue helicopter was on the scene within minutes, and after Friso was located, he was resuscitated on the scene and flown to the hospital, Jochum said.

The Austria Press Agency earlier cited Lech Mayor Ludwig Muxel as saying Friso was buried for about 20 minutes by a snow mass that measured more than 30 yards by 40 yards when it hit him.

Friso was in Lech with other members of the royal family. Friso, the second of Beatrix's three sons, married Dutch commoner Mabel Wisse Smit, in 2004. The pair have two daughters, Countess Luana, 6, and Countess Zaria, 5.

Most recently Friso has worked as financial director at Urenco, the European uranium-enrichment consortium.

The crucial moment in his life as a member of the Dutch nobility came with his 2003 engagement to then-commoner Wisse Smit.

After the pair announced their intention to marry in 2003, Dutch media revealed that Wisse Smit's previous friendships included contacts while she was in college with a well-known figure in the Dutch underworld, a drug dealer who was later slain.

The couple publicly acknowledged having been "naive and incomplete" during her vetting process before joining the royal family. Then-Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende signaled he could not recommend the marriage to parliament for approval.

They married anyway, a decision that meant Friso's removal from the line of succession.

The couple are still part of Beatrix's family and attend important royal functions. Mabel has been granted the title "Princess Mabel" and Friso has an array of noble titles, including "Prince of Oranje-Nassau" — but not "Prince of the Netherlands."

The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

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