The Dutch cabinet is preparing a ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, but enforcing it will be far harder than announcing it.
The problem boils down to the humble labels on imports, which currently give customs officers almost nothing to work with.
An investigation by the legal non-profit Global Echo analysed nearly 6,000 shipments of citrus, dates and tahini sent from Israel to Europe between 2017 and 2026.
Roughly one in five consignments arriving in the EU turned out to be grown in illegal settlements, despite carrying a “Product of Israel” label.
According to NU.nl, less than you might assume. The measure the cabinet announced covers agricultural goods such as citrus, sesame, dates, avocados and pomegranates.
However, Israel’s heavyweight exports to Europe are medical equipment, weapons, chips, and services like software, cybersecurity and cloud computing. Those are almost entirely made inside Israel proper, so they’re untouched.
Thomas van Gool, spokesperson for the peace organisation PAX, tells NU.nl the ban is good, but won’t cause much harm.
“Physical agricultural products are only a small part of the trade between Israel and Europe,” he tells the outlet. “But even so, any form of trade is enough to keep a settlement economically afloat. However small, it contributes to its viability.”
The Netherlands is extremely invested in Israel and has a large Zionist lobby. Not at the scale of Germany or the USA but still significant.
Them putting action financial sanctions on Israel to begin with is a slight miracle. And while these sanctions can be sidestepped, this is an actual step with meaningful impact meaning the political pressure has at least resulted in something which can definitely be pushed further.
It’s a very small step but it’s something beyond only rhetorics and condemnation. The political pressure works so lets keep it going.