Dutch PM to Geert Wilders: We don’t need your permission to criticize Israel

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof dismissed backlash from far-right leader Geert Wilders over a letter critical of Israel on Thursday, saying the government didn’t need Wilders’ approval to issue the sharp rebuke.

Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp wrote to the EU’s top diplomat earlier this week to request a review of the bloc’s association agreement with Israel over concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Veldkamp slammed Israel over its military operations in the besieged strip, and faulted its failure to rein in settler violence in the West Bank. “The situation in Gaza compels us to take this step,” he wrote in the letter, obtained by POLITICO. “Our government will draw a line in the sand.”

That drew the ire of Wilders, who criticized what he termed the government’s “ridiculous anti-Israel measures” and demanded to know why his PVV party, which controls the most seats in the Dutch parliament and underpins the country’s four-party ruling coalition, wasn’t consulted on the letter beforehand. (Wilders leads the party but doesn’t have a role in the Cabinet.)

“Were all ministers from all parties informed in advance?” Wilders asked on X on Wednesday.

Schoof hit back, saying he supported Veldkamp’s decision and didn’t need Wilders’ approval.

“It is a decision by Minister Veldkamp,” Schoof told Dutch broadcaster NOS. “I will not make any statements about how it came about.”

He added that the Cabinet “always seeks the support” of the four parties that form the Dutch coalition government when making such decisions. “But it is not the case that we listen to, say, one party leader with regard to the steps we take,” he said in a pointed reference to Wilders.

A Dutch government official told POLITICO that the foreign minister had not been obliged to get all parties on board before sending the letter because the coalition agreement, which lays out the terms of cooperation among the four parties, already sanctions calling out human rights violations.

The official, granted anonymity to speak candidly, added that Wilders was simply using the issue to stir up his base.

“Were all ministers from all parties informed in advance?” Geert Wilders asked on X on Wednesday. | Robin Van Lonkhuijsen/EPA

The Dutch government was thrust into crisis talks last November after a minister resigned amid violent clashes involving locals and Israeli football fans in Amsterdam.

The country’s ruling coalition was formed last July after more than seven months of negotiations and comprises the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV), the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) and the centrist NSC.