Dutch gov't refuses to commit to more action against Israel during fierce Gaza debate

The Dutch government isn’t going to take any further measures against Israel at this stage, caretaker Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp (NSC) said in a parliamentary debate on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza on Thursday. The Netherlands has “continuously escalated” measures against Israel to put pressure on the country, he said, calling them “significant steps.”

According to Veldkamp, the Netherlands is already doing a lot. He referred to the national measures announced last week, including entry bans for two Israeli ministers and the commitment to push the EU to scrap its trade deal with Israel. He acknowledged that it is not enough. More can be achieved in the European context, he said. “I’m not going to take measures simply for the sake of national symbolism that have no effect whatsoever,” he said.

Veldkamp reported that Israel is not adhering to the agreements made with the EU in early July concerning humanitarian supplies to Gaza. The famine among the already devastated Palestinian population has been rapidly spreading in recent weeks. The number of deaths from malnutrition is rising rapidly, various organizations report, and that is “indigestible,” Veldkamp said. He believes that Hamas’s terrorism is not and should not be a license for Israel to violate the humanitarian laws of war.

Parliament wanted to know why Israel wasn’t honoring the agreement, but the Minister could not elaborate. According to him, there is non-compliance with ceasefires and a lack of alternative routes for aid supplies. Confidential updates on this matter are coming from the EU, he said. He will elaborate in a letter to parliament.

Angry opposition parties wanted to know why the Cabinet isn’t introducing more national measures. They pointed out that other countries are preparing to do so.

According to GroenLinks-PvdA MP Kati Piri, it’s good that the Netherlands is trying to take measures in the European context, but “it’s not realistic at this point.” Proposals continually fail to get enough support within the EU, so they’re not implemented, or it takes a long time for measures to be implemented. She believes the Netherlands could take more measures itself. The Netherlands is still supplying weapons to Israel. That could be stopped without EU interference. Veldkamp repeated that the Cabinet would stick to the already taken measures.

Multiple parliamentarians pointed Veldkamp to the recent advisory report from the Advisory Committee on International Law Issues (CAVV) stating that the Netherlands has a moral duty to act to prevent genocide. Veldkamp declined to elaborate on this report and continued to list the measures the Cabinet had already taken.

Several parliamentarians accused Veldkamp of being complicit in the suffering in Gaza. DENK leader Stephan van Baarle, for example, criticized the Minister’s “criminal” lack of action. He believes the Netherlands should be much stricter with Israel. “If a Minister fails to do so because they consider selling weapons more important, then a Minister has blood on their hands.”

Veldkamp rejected these accusations. He responded calmly: “I always respect Mr. Van Baarle, but I find these kinds of accusations inappropriate.” NSC NP Isa Kahraman defended his fellow party member. “Let’s stop accusing each other of things that happen in other countries.”

As of August 7, Israel has killed 61,258 people, including at least 18,430 children, in the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported based on the latest figures from the Palestinian Health Ministry. That is one out of every 36 people in Gaza dead, and over 90 people killed per day since this war started on October 7, 2023, provoked by a Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, killing 1,137 people. The Gaza death toll does not include the thousands of missing people buried under the rubble.

At least 152,045 people in the Gaza Strip are injured, including at least 40,500 children and babies. 197 people have starved to death in Gaza due to Israel's restricting aid. 96 of them were children and babies. One in ten children in Gaza are malnourished.

Various aid organizations have reported that Israeli soldiers were gunning down Palestinians and aid workers en route to or at food distribution points.