Overview

• On July 28, the Dutch cabinet formally declared Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich persona non grata and registered them as undesirable in the Schengen Information System.
• Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp cited the ministers’ incitement of settler violence, advocacy of illegal settlement expansion and calls for ethnic cleansing in Gaza as justification for the measures.
• The Netherlands warned it will push to suspend the commercial provisions of the EU-Israel Association Agreement if Israel fails to uphold its obligations under international humanitarian law.
• The government pledged to bolster ground-based humanitarian assistance to Gaza to relieve civilian suffering after deeming aerial food drops too costly and risky.
• Ben-Gvir and Smotrich denounced the actions as European hypocrisy and rising antisemitism, accusing EU states of tolerating terrorism while boycotting Jewish officials.