What does NRC think | The cabinet is finally drawing, but has to do much more to help Gaza

It is a first step. But also counting first steps. The letter that Foreign Minister Cas-Par Veldkamp (NSC) sent to European Commissioner Kaja Kallas about the Gaza War this week, there are justified harsh words. Veldkamp, ​​who, despite great involvement in the subject, has been causing so far, wrote to Kallas that he wants the European Union to investigate whether Israel violates the conditions of the association agreement with the EU. In that treatyThat Israel gives trading benefits, states that human rights and democracy are central. It is clear that Israel violates that condition, Veldkamp notes with reason. In addition, with a veto, the Netherlands blocks the planned extension of the so-called EU-Israel Action Plan, with which, for example, Israeli students can participate in the Erasmus exchange program and get Israeli NGOs a subsidy.

They are signs on the wall that even for the Dutch government the size starts to get full. Israel grossly violates the humanitarian and war law. The way in which the Palestinian population is terrorized in Gaza may not continue without a fierce international conviction. The international community must do everything to prevent worse. Israel has shut Gaza from humanitarian aid, causing the population to be hungry. More than 50,000 deaths and countless injured people have fallen. And Gaza is only waiting for more misery. Like this said The extreme right-wing Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich that Gaza will be ‘totally destroyed’ within a few months. The 2.3 million Gazans, hunted, traumatized and stood towards life, will be forced together in a small part of the small area, between the southern border town of Rafah and Khan Younis, a little more to the north. Gazans will be so desperate that they want to flee Gaza, Smotrich said. For those who still doubt: this is ethnic cleansing.

And this ethnic cleansing has been going on for a long time. Gaza is bombed flat, life is sucked out of the densely populated area, so that those who are lucky flee the area. Israel takes civilians together in a small part, and the Netanyahu government clearly does not intend to leave Gaza after the war. No clear or realistic goal is formulated, so Netanyahu gives himself the chance to stretch the war as long as he wants. The destruction of Hamas, often mentioned by Netanyahu as a goal, will not come. The Israeli hostages who are still stuck in Gaza do not come home in this way.

The Dutch attitude towards Israel has been too weak for far too long. The Cabinet-Schoof and the fourth Rutte cabinet have little or no words pronounced when tens of thousands of civilians were murdered. That is morally reprehensible, especially for the country that stands up as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court as the guardian of international law. Moreover: it does not lead anything. It is precisely countries that take their friendship with Israel seriously, the country could indicate the pile-up, dark path that the Netanyahu government has chosen.

A few times the Prime Ministers Rutte and moved so -called ‘red lines’, which turned out to be worth nothing. Rutte drew that line during a possible raid in Rafah. When it came, nothing happened. Schoof said at the end of last year for questions from NRC That his ‘red line’ is the international war law. That is clearly violated. For example, when fifteen care providers in Gaza were executed by the Israeli army in March, after which Israel lied over the circumstances. The blockade of relief supplies is also such a violation of war law.

In the end, this blockade was one of the concrete reasons for the letter from Minister Veldkamp. Prime Minister Schoof was talking about a « sum » on Friday. No matter how meaningful, that step could have taken much earlier – and must be. And she should not stand on her own. The Netherlands should not only aim for an international reaction, it can also do more itself. For example with targeted sanctions that affect the settlement movement or the war in Gaza. But the defense cooperation between the Netherlands and Israel remains virtually undisturbed. The cabinet is lagging behind public opinion. Only 15 percent of the population supports the pro-Israeli policy of the cabinet, it was clear last month research by Ipsos I&O. That was 29 percent at the start of the war. The cabinet has to do much more quickly, and the Dutch population sees it in a large majority. The letter from Minister Veldkamp should therefore not remain a one -off act.

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