Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof dismissed backlash from far-right leader Geert Wilders over a letter critical of Israel on Thursday, saying the government didn’t need Wilders’ approval to issue the sharp rebuke.
Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp wrote to the EU’s top diplomat earlier this week to request a review of the bloc’s association agreement with Israel over concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Veldkamp slammed Israel over its military operations in the besieged strip, and faulted its failure to rein in settler violence in the West Bank. “The situation in Gaza compels us to take this step,” he wrote in the letter, obtained by POLITICO. “Our government will draw a line in the sand.”