Editorial note: The newsletter below is from our founding editor, Cornelis Hulsman, currently based in the Netherlands. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. You can send us a message by simply replying to this email.

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On June 20, Dutch senior journalist and Middle-East expert Eildert Mulder addressed a group of Dutch civil servants and diplomats who oppose Dutch policy after Israel has continued to use highly excessive methods to crush Palestinian resistance without adequate concern for the civilian population and infrastructure. Mulder, who is also an advisor to the Arab-West Foundation, agreed to a translation of his remarks for Dialogue Across Borders.

The bloodbath Hamas committed on October 7, 2023, generated much disgust at their heinous crime and consequent support for the state of Israel, despite the fact that Israel is ruled by the most right-wing government in its history with members of the cabinet who do not hide their belief that Palestinians in territories Israel occupied in 1967 should be expelled, including Gazans. But the large-scale Israeli destruction of Gaza with tens of thousands of civilian victims has ignited massive questions and controversy around Israel’s policy towards Gaza.

Since December, around 100 Dutch civil servants and diplomats decided to organize a weekly sit-in before the main entrance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since they were upset about the Dutch government twice abstaining from voting for a call for a ceasefire in the United Nations. “I became a civil servant because I wanted to contribute to a honest, humane and just society,” one of them said in December. The Dutch government responded that civil servants are allowed to protest, but policy decisions are made by the Cabinet (Ivy Dirksen, RTL, December 21).

The ongoing war has seen the Dutch government turn a blind eye while continuing support for Israel, including delivering weapons and spare parts for military aircraft. When a Dutch court prohibited the delivery of spare parts for Israel’s F-16s, the government made efforts to circumvent the court’s decision. All this has made civil servants continue their weekly protests, not expecting that this would continue for six months now.

Mulder explains that civil servants should not blindly carry out policies but are right to express their deep concern. The victims in this war are the Gazans but also include Western values of the rule of law, democracy, and humanity if we remain silent about the atrocities taking place. Mulder complimented the civil servants for “breaking an unhealthy culture of silence, which can endanger democracy and the rule of law.”

Mulder ended his speech with a line from Psalm 81 where God tells His people to open their mouths and ask Him for their needs. Likewise, the civil servants should open their mouths in the face of injustice.

For the full text of Mulder’s text please click here.

For an earlier statement on the occasion of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, please click here.

Cornelis Hulsman

Director - Arab-West Foundation (Netherlands)
Senior Advisor  - Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (Egypt)

June 26, 2024