I HAVE a secret that horrifies my sons. But I used to think it really more a joke than a warning.

See, I barrack for Holland.

This appals my boys. After all, my parents were Dutch but I was born here. Where’s my loyalty?

I can rationalise some of this. I was a bit solitary growing up, and having saved my odd-job money for years, took myself to Holland at 17 and found there an unconditional love and acceptance.

And why should my divided loyalty hurt anyone else? Where else will Holland clash with Australia but in sport?

Nor is there any malice towards Australia in my love of things Dutch, like my Dutch satellite TV.

I’ve done well here, love the country and feel this is home. Yet the ties of blood at times overwhelm the ties from living here.

Still, there’s one good thing from this. I think I now understand better than most something which threatens this country.

BLOG WITH ANDREW BOLT

What if I hadn’t done well here, and my family were poor? What if I resented that, and blamed this country for my failure?

What if my satellite TV — or favourite internet sites — told me Australia, its values and its faith were wicked?

What if I saw my parents’ homeland in flames, and heard people blame the West and demand I fight for not just the home of my fathers but my faith?

This is the appeal that we ask thousands of young Australians of Middle Eastern background to resist. Most will, of course, but a minority will not. Up to 200 Australians, most of Lebanese background, are already fighting with jihadist forces in Syria.

With jihadists now storming through Iraq, more young Australian Muslims may also heed the call — and come back trained for mayhem.

I doubt many Australians whose families have lived here for generations understand the pull from ancestral homelands. It’s seen as racist to even discuss adjusting immigration policies to recognise it.

But I barrack for Holland and know it’s there. Others barrack for countries we’ve invaded, and I know they’re there, too.