Most voters are still unsure about what they will vote in the national elections. Dagblad van het Noorden follows Groningen and Drenthe residents on their way to November 22. Today: How does the situation in Israel and Gaza affect your vote?
Bart Eleveld (51), social psychiatric nurse from Groningen. Voted GroenLinks last time, but is now unsure between SP, GroenLinks-PvdA and Pieter Omtzigt.
I think it’s a very complicated matter. On the one hand, I understand that the Palestinians yearn for their own state and feel oppressed. While I feel occupied and displaced, I understand that Israel is defending itself against the horrific attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah. Violence is not the solution, but the result of a lack of perspective and vision for the future. An ideal breeding ground for extremism and influence by countries such as Iran. Both peoples are entangled in a violent dance and there is little prospect of a solution. Every victim is one too many. Years ago we seemed close to a two-state solution, but this has faded into the background due to violence, distrust and (geopolitical) power games. I hope for total peace in which Palestinians and Jews can live peacefully together and side by side. But that takes courage. From both sides.
These events do not have much influence on my voting behavior because it is mainly focused on the Netherlands.
What I would also like to add is that I find Israel’s reaction very intense. I understand tackling Hamas, but I find it unacceptable that it causes so many innocent civilian casualties and does not contribute to a solution. In this way, Israel’s army is no better than Hezbollah and Hamas. I think you can ultimately achieve much more through diplomacy and humanitarian policy. This is David versus Goliath and we know how that ended.
Peter van der Meer (66), civil servant at the municipality of Emmen from Dalen. Preference for PVV.
I closely follow what is happening there and I am very shocked by it. What Hamas has done is of course unacceptable. I think there is a lot going on at the moment, with the attack in Brussels this week and the war in Ukraine. Attack in Brussels yesterday.
I consider myself peaceful and pacifist and I worry about the hardening in society. I cannot say that the events in Israel influence my choice for the PVV. I am also looking more broadly. I would like to become politically active, I will also retire soon. But the PVV has no members, so I take a look at NSC, Pieter Omtzigt’s new party. It’s all still early, you know. I also think: the PVV can say it well, but I have not yet been able to catch them in action.
I am afraid that polarization will get out of hand, also because of people from other cultures living here. I was on the train recently when someone from Tunisia was stopped because he didn’t have a ticket. He said he was discriminated against because of the color of his skin, but I said, no, what matters is that you don’t have a ticket. It is okay to tackle people who misbehave. But we must emphasize that good things are also happening.
Jannie Reinders (73), retired senior advisor from Opende. Preference PvdD, GroenLinks-PvdA or D66.
Geez. I think it’s terrible what’s happening there. I disapprove of what Hamas is doing, but also what is happening in the Gaza Strip. It is very difficult to judge what is cause and effect in this matter.
I haven’t thought about what this does to my voting behavior. But when I heard Prime Minister Mark Rutte respond to the events, with a sharp condemnation, I thought: he does not speak for me.
It also strikes me that you now see few or no Israeli flags, while you did see Ukrainian flags after the Russian invasion there. But that doesn’t change the fact that I think it’s terrible what’s happening. I’m ashamed to be human.
Cobie Schuurman (57), perfumery owner in Meppel. Preference for VVD.
I follow what happens there minute by minute and find it very important. It makes me very anxious, it is still borderline. I also find it very worrying that the situation in Ukraine seems to be fading into the background.
I also think that the situation of the Palestinians is terrible, but among them there are those who are constantly radicalized. Give me a gun and I’ll fight, they say. But it is also true that Israel is becoming radicalized just as much by cooperating with an extreme right-wing party in the government. It is therefore good that there is now a war cabinet, in which the opposition is also participating. I hope Netanyahu goes away. There really needs to be a solution to the situation with the Palestinians.
I think the VVD is very good at this. In the Netherlands it seems as if the polarization from the time of the cold war is returning. Then you also had a lot of polarization. You were for or against nuclear energy, or the atomic bomb.
The atmosphere in the Netherlands is not getting any better. I notice this on the shop floor, by the rudeness you sometimes experience. This has not improved in recent years.