New Dutch coalition to look into ‘appropriate timing’ for moving Israel embassy to Jerusalem

Four Dutch political factions agree in their coalition pact to look into finding the appropriate timing for moving the embassy of the Netherlands in Israel to Jerusalem.

The draft agreement, which Dutch media reports was finalized last night, follows the November general elections in the Netherlands, in which the pro-Israel, far-right Party for Freedom of Geert Wilders received the highest share of the vote with 37 seats out of 150 in the Dutch lower house out of 150.

On Jerusalem, the draft states that research will be conducted into “the appropriate time in which the move of the embassy to Jerusalem can occur.”

A separate clause states that the Holocaust will be included in the integration exam that anyone seeking Dutch citizenship needs to pass. That clause is one of several outlining a tougher immigration policy for the Netherlands. Another clause states that the Netherlands will work to obtain an “opt-out” from the EU policy on absorbing asylum seekers.

The other coalition partners are the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy of caretaker prime minister Mark Rutte; the New Social Contract center-right party and the Farmer–Citizen Movement, a conservative party that was born out of protest against climate-relate policies.

The identity of the next prime minister is not yet known. Wilders, an anti-Islam firebrand who in 2016 was found guilty of inciting discrimination against Moroccans, is widely thought to have agreed not to preside as prime minister as per the conditions of some of his party’s future coalition partners.