Dutch customs authorities search luggage of El Al passengers as new ban on bringing in items from West Bank settlements, Golan takes effect

Passengers who recently flew to Amsterdam on an El Al flight from Tel Aviv report that Dutch customs authorities searched their luggage to ensure that none of them were bringing in products from West Bank settlements or the Golan Heights.

The reports are consistent with a new policy that came into effect in the Netherlands on September 22, which bars the entry of any products from Israeli settlements, including those brought in by private passengers.

Dutch custom authorities said in an announcement earlier this month that starting on September 22, “all goods that have been obtained or manufactured wholly or partly in an unlawful Israeli settlement” would be banned from entering the country.

“Customs authorities refer to the place where a product is obtained or manufactured as the origin,” the announcement stated. “Therefore, it does not concern all goods from Israel, but only goods obtained or manufactured in these unlawful settlements.”

It noted that the ban was not just relevant to companies hoping to import items but also to private passengers who are bringing in products as souvenirs or gifts.

The Netherlands stresses that this ban does not apply to items produced or purchased within Israel’s internationally recognized borders.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a longtime supporter of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, calls the incident “insane” in a post on X.

“There were some people from Netherlands in our church this morning who are flying back tomorrow & have to check their souvenirs to make sure they aren’t from Judea/Samaria — possible 6 yr prison term,” Huckabee writes, adding, “A Nativity set from Bethlehem could put you in prison! Insane!”

Bethlehem, however, isn’t an Israeli settlement, so the Dutch policy presumably wouldn’t apply there. Huckabee’s reference to the six-year prison term appears to derive from the maximum punishment available under Dutch law for an intentional violation of the sanctions measure, and wouldn’t be the expected punishment in the tourists’ case.