The Dutch Cabinet has declared Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich persona non grata, and they will be banned from entering the Netherlands, said the kingdom’s Foreign Minister Kaspar Veldkamp.
“The Cabinet of Ministers (of the Netherlands) has decided to declare Israeli ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir persona non grata and has committed to add them to the list of undesirable foreigners in the Schengen Information System,” Veldkamp said in a letter to the Dutch parliament published on Monday.
According to the minister, this decision was made due to the fact that Smotrich and Ben-Gvir “repeatedly incited settlers to violence against Palestinians, advocated the expansion of illegal settlements and called for ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.”
Veldkamp also said that the Israeli ambassador would be summoned to the Dutch Foreign Ministry to urge the country’s authorities to change course with regard to the Gaza Strip, a situation in which “is unbearable and unjustifiable.”
“The ambassador’s call will also be used to remind Israel of the need to comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law,” the minister said.
Earlier, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schof said that the country would support the idea of suspending Israel’s participation in the European Union’s Horizon research program if the EU makes such a decision.
2,739 total views, 2 views today
