Little touches my sense of powerlessness more than a large majority of the House of Representatives who does not want to return from summer recess to talk about Gaza. PVV not, not, not, SGP, not, the NSC of responsible Minister Veldkamp. VVD and CDA did not even respond to the proposal on time. The national lower abdomen naturally deserves a few weeks of rest. Genocide is of course not nice, but they had reserved a Spanish pool chair with their towel.
I also know that this is probably not the course of events, that Yesilgöz did not really bump from Timmermans in a sweaty karaoke bar. It’s about the image. Such as the refusing parties, certainly by not giving a reason for refusal, also painting a picture: at the moment Gaza, where the food is on, new food is barely coming in and where there is a little bit of food in line before that little food, not something that now deserves political attention.
A return of the summer recess is also rare, then there really has to be, really something going on. Like the last time it happened. Two weeks ago. Then the room came back for a vote on emergency support for shipbuilder Damen Naval. Because that, well, that was in the national interest. The room came back a few times during the Coronapandemie. National interest! The Chamber returned in 2022 after statements by then Minister Hoekstra about breaking with nitrogen agreements from the cabinet. National interest! Even when it was about an international conflict during the summer in 2021, the power grip of the Taliban in Afghanistan, that was mainly because of the Afghans who were entitled to asylum because they had worked for the Netherlands. National interest!
In 2025, a summer recess seems to be an outdated concept anyway. Not because politicians do not deserve rest, but because a break is too expensive considering the current international problems. But even if the reason (which I was forced to fill in) not to return because of Gaza, it would not have anything to do with ‘us’, then it just doesn’t like that. Because the greater the criminity there and the greater the misery, the greater the unrest here, the anger, and yes, the powerlessness.
And if the only steeringmen ashore already look with a cocktail in hand how the ship disappears under water, what should we as burgers with even a shred of empathy? We, emotionally, poured from angry letter to even a bit of a boer letter, from tapping the fingers to red lines that seem to be drawn with a dried -out marker.
Not that we have some hope for results from a debate, the room was allowed to return. While there are indeed things that can do the room. But that you interrupt your recess for it is at least the smallest sign that you fascinate you. It is the minimal effort for the people who take to the streets, the people with their keffiyehs and watermelon pin, the people who participated in SIT-ins on Dutch train stations on Thursday. The minimal effort, so that powerlessness does not become cynicism.
Frank Huiskamp Replaces Frits Abrahams.