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Friday, August 22, 2025
Dutch FM says resigning after Netherlands cabinet failed to agree on sanctions against Israel
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Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp resigns after a cabinet meeting failed to agree on sanctions against Israel.
“I see that I am insufficiently able to take meaningful additional measures to increase pressure on Israel,” Veldkamp tells Dutch news agency ANP after a cabinet debate on possible sanctions against Israel was deadlocked.
Last month, Veldkamp declared Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich unwelcome in the Netherlands, accusing them of inciting settler violence in the West Bank and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.
On Thursday, Veldkamp said he wanted to take further steps against Israel, but later acknowledged he lacked confidence he could act effectively in the coming weeks or months.
The minister says the steps he had proposed were “seriously discussed” but encountered resistance in successive cabinet meetings.
“I feel constrained in setting the course I consider necessary as foreign minister,” he says.
The Netherlands was among 21 countries that signed a joint declaration on Thursday condemning Israel’s approval of a major West Bank settlement project as “unacceptable and contrary to international law.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.