The prime minister of the Netherlands declared Israeli ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich as personae non gratae in the kingdom, for inciting violence and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof threatened further action against ‘Israel’, adding that “the people of Gaza must be given immediate, unfettered, safe access to humanitarian aid,” he wrote on X late Monday.
“If the EU decides tomorrow that Israel is not in compliance” with “relevant agreements,” Schoof added, “the Netherlands supports the plan to suspend Israeli participation in the EU research program Horizon. If that proves to be the case, tomorrow in Brussels the Netherlands will also press for further European measures, for example in the realm of trade,” Schoof wrote.
Today I had an additional meeting with the deputy prime ministers, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defence about the catastrophic situation in Gaza.
The government’s goal is crystal clear: the people of Gaza must be given immediate, unfettered, safe access to…
— Dick Schoof (@MinPres) July 28, 2025
For his part, Dutch Foreign Minister Kasper Veldkamp told the NOS broadcaster that the Netherlands had decided to register Ben-Gvir and Smotrich “as undesirable aliens in the Schengen registration system,” because “they have repeatedly incited violence by settlers against the Palestinian population, persistently advocated the expansion of illegal settlements, and called for ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.”
The Dutch government also said it would summon the Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands to express the Dutch cabinet’s displeasure with “the current situation,” which it called intolerable and indefensible. “Moreover, it has been agreed to continue to increase pressure on Hamas to achieve a ceasefire,” said Veldkamp.
In June, the Netherlands backed a failed Swedish proposal to impose EU sanctions on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Smotrich responded on X, saying European leaders had succumbed to “the lies of radical Islam that is taking over” and “rising antisemitism”.
Ben-Gvir said he would continue to act for Israel, even if he was banned from entering “all of Europe”.
Source: Agencies
