The Dutch government on Monday evening announced that it has imposed an entry ban on Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, along with a series of other anti-Israel measures.

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp wrote in a letter to Dutch lawmakers that the cabinet has decided to “declare Israeli ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir persona non grata and will register them as undesirable aliens in the Schengen registration system.”

“This is because they have repeatedly incited settler violence against the Palestinian population, continuously advocated the expansion of illegal settlements, and called for ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.”

The government also announced that the Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands will be summoned for clarification over the situation in the Gaza Strip.

The decision was made a day before an important meeting at the European Union on whether to suspend Israel’s access to the world’s largest research cooperation program. Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced that the government may support the proposal to suspend funding for Israel.

The government is also threatening to call for the suspension of the European trade agreement with Israel and the restriction of arms exports to Israel.

Finally, the government announced that it is donating 4.5 million euros to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Minister Ben Gvir responded to the report by stating, “Even if they ban me from entry to all of Europe, I will continue to act for our country and demand that we defeat Hamas and support our soldiers. Those who are violent, murderers, and rapists are our enemies—but in Europe, as in Europe, the one who is attacked is to blame. In a place where terror is tolerated and terrorists are welcomed, a Jewish minister from Israel is not wanted. Terrorists are free, and Jews are boycotted.”

Smotrich responded by stating, “What they don’t understand in the Netherlands and other European countries is that 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.”

“In the Netherlands and Europe in general, Jews did not live in security at the beginning of the last century, and judging by the European hypocrisy, the surrender of its leaders to the lies of radical Islam that is taking over, and the rising antisemitism there—Jews will not be able to live there in security in the future either.”

“I dedicate my life to the future and security of Israel and will continue to do so to the best of my judgment, even if it means standing firm against the entire world. And as the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin said, if someone in the world turns up their nose—well, let them have a crooked nose.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)