Last Friday, Mark Rutte (VVD) tweeted again about Gaza – in Dutch and English. “I just had a compelling conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu,” the outgoing prime minister wrote. “Israel [moet] drastically reduce the level of violence; there are too many innocent civilian casualties.”
It was certainly not the first time that Rutte spoke out about the war, which has cost the lives of around 1,200 Israelis and at least 24,000 Palestinians. Rutte has already traveled to Israel and the Palestinian West Bank twice; the telephone conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu cannot be counted on one hand.
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Hanke Bruins Slot (CDA) and Geoffrey van Leeuwen (VVD), have also visited Israel, but it is Rutte himself who is in charge – to the surprise of officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The role played by the Ministry of General Affairs is extremely remarkable,” a group of civil servants wrote in an anonymous letter to the Court of Appeal in The Hague.
According to the officials, Rutte’s interference goes so far that politically unwelcome information – such as possible violations of humanitarian law by Israel – is swept under the carpet. “A request from the Ministry of General Affairs to the Legal Affairs Directorate at Foreign Affairs reads as follows,” the officials write: “What can we say so that it appears that Israel is not committing war crimes?”
The anonymous letter, which was drawn up by about twenty critical civil servants and diplomats, is part of the appeal by three civil society organizations against the state, which will be submitted to the Court of Appeal in The Hague on Monday. Oxfam Novib, Pax and The Rights Forum demand that the Netherlands stop the export of spare parts for Israeli F-35 fighter planes from a distribution center at Woensdrecht air base. In her plea, in which NRC has had access to it, lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld will use the letter.
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Bombings
Last November, the Netherlands decided to continue deliveries from the F-35 Regional Warehouse, despite official warnings that Israel may be committing “serious violations of humanitarian law of war” with the fighter aircraft involved in the bombings.
According to the Dutch organizations, the deliveries from Woensdrecht are contrary to the European common position on arms exports and the international Arms Trade Treaty. However, the court in The Hague ruled in summary proceedings that the state had the right to make its own assessment on the basis of national political and security interests. The Netherlands is also part of the F-35 program and stopping exports to Israel would not only be an insult to Washington and Tel Aviv, but could also endanger Dutch participation.
However, according to officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands’ motives are not always pure and Prime Minister Rutte’s career plays a major role in the background. Next summer, Rutte wants to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as Secretary General of NATO, and although the European allies certainly have a say in this, one vote is decisive: that of the White House.
Washington has publicly chastised Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu about the exorbitant violence unleashed on the Palestinian civilian population, but the Biden administration will not go so far as to call on Israel for a ceasefire. Joe Biden will run for a second term this fall and with the removal of Israel he would alienate large groups of voters.
Putin
America continues to stand behind Israel – and Rutte’s outgoing cabinet does so too, say the critical officials. The Netherlands urges Israel to stay within the rules of humanitarian law of war and not to cause unnecessary civilian casualties, and is trying to stimulate humanitarian aid to Gaza, where everything is in short supply. But while UN Secretary General António Guterres has been calling for a laydown of arms for months, the Netherlands does not want to go beyond ‘humanitarian pauses’ to bring in aid for the affected population.
According to officials, the Foreign Office is doing everything it can to get Rutte the NATO job. This fits in with the policy of getting Dutch people into top international positions, but it also conflicts with the harsh reality of the war in Gaza. Diplomats from the North Africa and Middle East region warned in an internal note that the Dutch political line is not understood in their region: while the Netherlands asks for support for the prosecution of Russian President Putin, it refuses to take a stand against Israel.
Rutte’s line also leads to friction within the outgoing cabinet, the officials say in their letter. For example, Minister Bruins Slot is said to have wanted to vote in favor of a second, significantly watered-down UN resolution last December, which called for “creating the conditions for a long-term cessation of hostilities.” Bruins Slot met with a ‘no’ from Rutte – minutes before the vote in the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“It is also widely known that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised to vote for a ceasefire during a UNGA vote [Algemene vergadering VN] and that the Ministry of General Affairs ignored this until the last minute,” the officials write.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls the anonymous letter from the officials “extremely bad” in a response: “The ministry rejects the accusations contained in it. The letter writers make allegations and give quotes that the ministry does not recognize at all.”
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Great unrest
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly denies that AZ has requested that possible Israeli war crimes be covered up: “There has never been that request or anything to that effect.” Rutte’s Ministry of General Affairs agrees with BZ’s statement.
There has been great unrest at the Foreign Office for months due to the Dutch refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. NRC has been in contact with several civil servants for some time and therefore has insight into the background of the letter and the underlying communication. The accusations against Rutte are based on information from those directly involved, often in key positions in the department. Because the civil servants fear for their jobs, the quotes in their anonymous letter have been paraphrased so that their source cannot be traced.
The pro-American line of the Netherlands is now certainly striking. Last week, the Netherlands was the only EU country on a list of allies involved in the attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen by the US and the UK. The fact that the Dutch contribution consisted of one staff officer did not alter the political message that The Hague sent with the “non-operational” participation in the bombing.
Last Thursday, Gaza was discussed again during a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. “I understand all members who are calling for a permanent ceasefire,” said Minister Bruins Slot. She then dodged questions about South Africa’s genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice.
In the coming weeks, the Court – the world’s highest court – may issue “temporary measures” to stop the killing of Gazans. It could mean that the Netherlands will still have to stop deliveries of parts for the Israeli F-35s – regardless of the outcome of the Dutch NGOs’ lawsuit. Bruins Slot did not want to “get ahead of this” – to the anger of spokesperson Kati Piri (GroenLinks-PvdA). “I don’t know what I’m experiencing here. Will the Netherlands actively promote compliance with these temporary measures?”
Bruins Slot did not confirm this.