There is also criticism of Israel within the ChristenUnie: ‘We have flanks, but they are our flanks’

A long line of ChristenUnie members, many sixties, shuffles the party congress in Ede on Saturday. They are welcomed with coffee, tea and glacé cakes with a blue CU heart. « We are connected by our desire for Christian-Social Policy, » says the first speaker Mirjam Muis, municipal councilor in Molenlanden (South Holland), on stage. But that unity is under pressure due to the pro-Israeli course of the ChristenUnie and the genocidal violence in Gaza.

An Israel motion of 19 members who calls for a radical change of course does not get a majority, but 28 percent of the votes: a striking result for a party that always supports Israel. « Plants are getting up everywhere, » says the petitioner Arthur Hegger, retired clinical psychologist. A year ago he submitted a similar proposal. « Then it was still exciting whether I would find ten people at all to submit the motion. »

The CU board calls for this motion to a course according to international law, explicit support for the two-state solution, termination of the Israeli settlement policy and preservation of the Dutch embassy in Tel Aviv.

The party board discouraged the motion. Party chairman Ankie van Tatenhove (who was followed by Marco Vermin on Saturday) acknowledges that the Israeli government is in the way of peace, but believes that the motion is ignoring the security care for Israel. « We have flanks, we cherish flanks, but they are our flanks, » says Van Tatenhove.

Controversial call

A second Gaza motion receives support from the board, and makes it. It is in line with the current course: condemning Hamas and encourage Israel to peace. This motion also includes a call to local CU politicians to be reluctant to be reluctant to public expressions about the conflict-just in the week in which Rotterdam mayor and party prominent Carola Schouten A long letter about Gaza published.

Water Board Commission Member Jos den Hengst is indignant about that call in the motion. « As if local politicians do not know how to handle international issues with care. That is not cautious, that is distrust. While they are in the middle of society, » he says.

Rik van der Graaf, CU party chairman in Utrecht, agreed in that city council for a motion to use the word ‘genocide’ in municipal communication about Gaza. « If the national CU had spoken more, I would never have voted, » he says.

Opposition in the party

The reluctance to criticize Israel is deep at the CU. The party originated in 2000 from the merger of the fierce pro-Israeli Reformed Political Association (GPV) and the more moderate reformational political federation (RPF). The GPV carrot in the American Gospel tradition, in which Israel is seen as proof of God’s promise. Within the Dutch Reformed tradition of the RPF, ‘replacement theology’ lived: the idea that the church itself is the new Israel.

« You can still see that contradiction in the party, » says Bart Bolhuis, former press officer of the European CU group and co-inventor of the motion of Hegger who was not recommended by the party board. « Eventually they make a pragmatic assessment at the top. » According to him, the party top looks over the shoulder at the SGP. « If we run, the SGP says immediately: CU is on the left, CU chooses the side of the Pro-Palestina demonstrators. »

The CU youth organization Perspective speaks out against the settlement policy and relocation of the embassy to Jerusalem. Those views are not in the program of the ChristenUnie. Chairman Jerke Setz sees movement: « Shortly after » 7 October « the consensus was: all Israel’s reactions are permitted. But a few weeks later that shifted to: 100 percent the right to defend you, but also look when it’s enough. »

Earlier this spring it turned out in The Hague how the ChristenUnie is struggling. When fifteen care providers were killed by Israel in Gazasix parties in the Lower House together served a motion for an independent investigation, and in the event of refusal sanctions against Israel. CU MP Don Ceder submitted an almost identical motion-only without sanctions.

Weapons

According to critical CU members, the close relationship with organizations such as Christians for Israel (CVI) is a brake on change. Until November 2024, Leon Meijer was chairman of CVI International and board member at the ChristenUnie. Sara van Oordt, Head of Communication at CVI, was on the party list of the party.

After research from angry, it Nederlands Dagblad And Investico in March, in which CVI was linked to financing of settlements and weapons on the West Bank, called on several CU members to break the tires.

Bart Bolhuis signed that call, but immediately received a phone call from the party top, he says: « Keep it internal. » CVI itself later denied the accusations. Former board member Meijer emphasizes that there are no official ties, « only people who are active at both CU and CVI. » In his own words, as a CU board member, he consciously held aloof from Israel and Palestine, he adds.

As long as the race around Gaza does not change, Bolhuis will no longer vote for the CU in the national elections, He announced on LinkedIn after congress. According to him, the criticism hardly penetrates the party top. « We are being heard, but then it is ready, » he says. « They are like death for discussion. But if we don’t have this conversation, we will lose each other. »

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