Wilders criticizes Commander of Dutch army for calling Israel hostage rescue complicated
PVV leader Geert Wilders criticized Onno Eichelsheim, the Commander of the Dutch Armed Forces, because he called Israel’s rescue of four hostages in Gaza “very complicated” given the high number of deaths the Israeli army inflicted during the rescue. Wilders said on X that Eichelsheim’s statements were “incomprehensible, inappropriate, incorrect.”
On Saturday, Israel freed four hostages who had been held in Gaza since October. The Palestinian government reported that the Israeli army killed 274 people in the operation, including three Israeli hostages.
Eichelsheim commented on the rescue operation in the program Buitenhof, calling it “very complicated” how much force Israel used. “First of all, it is, of course, wonderful that the hostages have been freed,” Eichelsheim said. “But if the damage is really so great, you may wonder whether it is proportionate.”
According to Eichelsheim, Israel “at some point crosses a line” with violence used to free hostages. Asked whether that line has been crossed, the Duch Commander said: “I think that, in general, Israel is currently using disproportionate force to achieve its objectives.”
On October 7, Hamas committed terrorist attacks in Israel, killing 1,139 people and taking hostages. Israel immediately responded with military attacks on the Gaza Strip and hasn’t stopped bombing the area since.
As of 3:30 p.m. on June 9, local time, Israeli attacks have killed at least 37,084 people in Gaza, including over 15,000 children. Over 84,494 people are injured, and more than 10,000 are missing under the rubble, Al Jazeera reported based on figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Wilders criticized Eichelsheim’s statements. “If I were the Minister of Defense, I would have called him to order about this and corrected him,” the PVV leader said on X. It is very rare for politicians to criticize the head of the armed forces, according to ANP.
The VVD was “surprised” by the commander’s statements, parliamentarian Ruben Brekelmans said on X. According to the MP, the Commander of the Dutch Armed Forces does not have the necessary information to make the legal judgment of disproportionate force, and doing so was “sloppy.”
