Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich accused the Dutch government of “surrendering to the lies of radical Islam” on Tuesday morning after the Netherlands declared him and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir persona non grata, barring them from entering the country.
The ban is part of a series of Dutch measures aimed at pressuring Israel over the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Dutch Foreign Minister Kaspar Veldkamp explained the move in a letter to Parliament, claiming that both ministers had “repeatedly incited violence by settlers against the Palestinian population” and had even “called for ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.” Veldkamp also cited their support for settlement expansion in Judea and Samaria. Local media reported that the Israeli ambassador would be summoned over the decision, and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said his government would support excluding Israel from the EU’s Horizon Europe research program.
Smotrich fired back in a series of tweets, declaring that his top concern is not international access, but Israel’s long-term survival. “Far more than it matters to me to enter the Netherlands, it matters to me that my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and those of all the Jews in the world, can live in the State of Israel in security for decades and centuries to come,” he tweeted.