According to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Israel is not doing enough to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Yet, it need not fear sanctions from the EU. Dutch minister Veldkamp calls it a success that the sanctions proposed by Kallas are still on the table, in case Israel fails to comply with EU agreements on allowing more humanitarian aid. Still, Veldkamp himself will never support the proposed sanctions package, especially the economic measures. After all, Israel is a crucial trade partner for the Netherlands. Delaying concrete action is therefore not a diplomatic success, but rather a cover-up meant to conceal the absence of political action.
A crucial trade partner
The Netherlands is Israel’s largest investor: in 2023, this amounted to over 50 billion euros. At the same time, Israel invested more than 47 billion euros in the Netherlands that same year. These figures were published by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), in response to discussions about potentially suspending the EU-Israel association agreement. SOMO’s data makes it painfully clear: the Netherlands stands to lose a lot if the agreement is suspended.
And so, once again, concrete action is postponed. Because the Netherlands is not only Israel’s largest investor, but with a total trade volume of 4 to 5 billion euros, also its fourth most important trading partner. The trade relationship between the two countries is substantial and of strategic significance to the Netherlands. Israeli exports to the Netherlands include scarce raw materials, high-tech goods such as medical equipment, and agricultural products.
Pro-human rights, unless it costs money
The Netherlands would rather look the other way than risk its good trade relations. Even now, after it has become clear that Israel is violating the human rights obligations in the association agreement, a conclusion drawn at the initiative of Minister Veldkamp himself. The list of ten sanctions proposed by Kallas remains left on the shelf. The suspension of the association agreement, the most serious measure, will never be supported by the Netherlands. That agreement is simply too important to the Dutch economy and will be defended tooth and nail.
What’s next?
The lack of resolve regarding the genocide in Gaza must not serve as an example for the rest of society. The government chooses trade interests, but the rest of the Netherlands doesn’t have to. Resistance must come from the bottom up. A third edition of the Red Line demonstration, perhaps? I’ll be there again.
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