Israel has revoked the diplomatic accreditation of Dutch officials based in the occupied West Bank following the Netherlands’ enforcement of a ban on goods from Israeli settlements.
Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, announced the decision on Sunday in a post on his official X account.
Saar said the Dutch officials had seven days to surrender their Israeli-issued diplomatic documents, after which their diplomatic privileges and immunities would expire.
“After this period, the diplomatic privileges and immunities granted to them by the State of Israel will expire,” he said.
The minister linked the decision to the Dutch government’s enforcement of a ban on goods imported from Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Dutch authorities announced earlier this month that the ban would take effect from September 22 and would cover both commercial shipments and goods carried in personal luggage.
Israeli and Dutch media reported in recent days that passengers arriving from Israel at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport had their luggage searched for prohibited settlement goods.
The Netherlands’ move followed coordinated action by 12 Western countries, including Britain and France, which announced sanctions targeting goods from Israeli settlements earlier this month.
Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and has occupied the Palestinian territories since then. Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a strong supporter of Israeli settlers, also commented on the Dutch restrictions on X.
“There were some people from the Netherlands in our church this morning who are flying back tomorrow and have to check their souvenirs to make sure they aren’t from Judea/Samaria possible six-year prison term,” he wrote.
“Judea and Samaria” is the biblical name for the West Bank, a term also used by the Israeli government.
Excluding East Jerusalem, about 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, which is home to around three million Palestinians.
