Dutch foreign ministry lists Jewish Diaspora criticism of Israel as goal

An official Dutch foreign ministry document listed as an objective actions that “encourage Diaspora Jewish communities to voice their opposition to the occupation.”

The statement, which is unusual for European governments offering funding for organizations they say are promoting peace or coexistence between Israel and Palestinians, appeared in a report published earlier this year on Dutch funding for the Breaking the Silence group.

Titled “Activity Appraisal Document ODA below €250.000,” the report on Breaking the Silence included the reference to Diaspora communities under the rubric: “Goal 3: To increase opposition in the international arena to Israel’s prolonged occupation of the OPT based on global shared values.” OPT stands for “occupied Palestinian Territories.”

NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based watchdog group that focuses on funding for Israeli and Palestinian groups, criticized the ministry’s “intruding on Israel-Diaspora relations, on one of the most sensitive issues,” as the group’s founder, Gerald Steinberg, termed it in a statement Tuesday.

Chris Bakker, a spokesperson for Sigrid Kaag, the Netherlands’ minister for foreign trade and development cooperation, declines to answer JTA’s questions on the document, including on whether the objectives it specified belonged to his office, or to Breaking the Silence.

Kaag’s ministry pledged $218,000 for Breaking the Silence in its budget for 2018. A former worker for the UNRWA agency for aid to Palestinians, Kaag is also the wife of a former Palestinian Authority diplomat.

— JTA