Two-thirds of Dutch don't support Netherlands' Gaza approach

Currently, 65 percent of the Netherlands' residents don’t support the Dutch government’s approach to Israel and the war in Gaza, according to a poll by Ipsos I&O among a representative sample of 1,155 Dutch adults. 58 percent want the government to be more critical of Israel and take more action against the country, while 12 percent think the government should give Israel more support. Both of these groups have grown over the past two years.

This is the fifth time Ipsos I&O has surveyed Netherlands residents about the war in Gaza. According to the research agency, criticism of the government’s approach has never been so high. Not a single voter group still supports government policy. In November 2023, a majority of VVD (57%) and CDA (56%) voters were still behind how the government was handling the conflict. Now, those figures have dropped to 35 and 26 percent, respectively.

The share of Dutch people who don’t or only limitly support the Dutch policy on the conflict has grown from 59 percent in April to 65 percent now. The share of those who do support the government policy has also increased, from 15 to 18 percent. According to Ipsos, these increases are due to more people having an opinion on the matter. The “don’t know” percentage decreased from 26 to 17 percent since April.

When asking the 65 percent of Dutch people who don’t support the government’s policy what the government should do differently, the vast majority of voters said they wanted tougher action against the Israeli government. They want the Cabinet to speak out more, acknowledge that Israel is committing genocide, and take measures like boycotting Israel and recognizing the Palestinian state.

The 18 percent who do support the government policy generally want the government to continue supporting Israel in the war. Others do want action against the Israeli government, but think this should happen in Europe or internationally. There is also a small group that wants the Netherlands to stay out of the conflict.

Half of Netherlands residents want the government to stop buying weapons from Israel (21 percent disagree), 46 percent support a boycott of products from illegal Israeli settlements (20 percent disagree), and 38 percent support immediate recognition of the Palestinian state (23 percent disagree).

A clear majority of voters for GroenLinks-PvdA (91%), D66 (78%), and CDA (76%) want more action against Israel. VVD voters are more divided on the issue, but the largest group (41%) wants a more critical stance. Voters for the far-right PVV and JA21 are about equally divided between more support for Israel, more criticism, or being happy with the current response.

The survey was conducted one week after the NSC stepped out of the Cabinet due to the resignation of Casper Veldkamp, the party's Minister of Foreign Affairs. He felt that the other coalition parties, the BBB and VVD, gave him too little room to take measures against Israel.

Many voters disagreed with the NSC’s decision to leave the Cabinet: 29 percent think it was a justified move, while 36 think it wasn’t.