The Dutch government must provide greater transparency about its funding to Palestinian organizations and should ensure that the groups’ activities are in accordance with the Netherlands’ foreign policy goals, according to a motion passed by the Dutch House of Representatives.
The motion introduced last Wednesday by Reformed Political Party member Chris Stoffer requested that the Foreign Ministry’s foreign aid website provide information about supported Palestinian organizations, including information about directors, their projects, and activities.
Funding from the Dutch government should take into account its Israel and Palestinian policy principle when making decisions about financing Palestinian organizations, said Tuesday’s approved motion, including ensuring that the groups at the very least recognize the State of Israel.
The preamble of the document explained that more transparency was needed in the funding of Palestinian groups following the cessation of subsidies to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, which has been accused by Israel and the United States of being an affiliate of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization. In 2020, the government suspended funding of UAWC following a 2019 bombing by two of the NGO’s employees.
Dutch NGO Center for Information and Documentation Israel said on X/Twitter on Wednesday that the move “reduces the risk of money ending up in the wrong hands.”
Change in policy
NGO Monitor, which had in November presented a report to the Dutch parliament warning about the misuse of foreign aid to Palestinian organizations for terrorism and radicalism, praised the change in policy in a Wednesday statement.
“We welcome this law as the necessary next step in correcting these fundamental NGO funding and oversight failures,” NGO Monitor’s vice president, Olga Deutsch, said. “For years, NGO Monitor has highlighted the systematic lack of vetting and oversight mechanisms, allowing billions of euros to be diverted to antisemitic, anti-Israel, and terror-affiliated organizations. The need to change these practices became even more salient following the Hamas massacre of October 7.”
The NGO Monitor report had called for increased vetting criteria for Dutch-funded NGOs and increased transparency on its foreign aid website and had suggested denial of Israel’s right to exist as criteria for ineligibility for support. The group explained that “The Netherlands commitment to a two-state solution must also be applied to development and humanitarian aid.”
As one of the largest donors to Palestinians, the Netherlands aid should be recalibrated to leverage the deradicalization of Palestinian society, NGO Monitor suggested.
Another motion by Denk party leader Stephan van Baarle was also adopted by the Dutch Second Chamber of the States General, calling for the government to advocate for the preparation of Gaza reconstruction plans and fundraising.
A number of agenda items related to Israel and the Palestinians were rejected during the same meeting. A motion introduced by van Baarle to tighten the effectiveness of labeling and enforcing tariffs from Israeli settlements was not passed.
Also denied was Stoffer and Farmer-Citizen Movement member Henk Vermeer’s motion to link Dutch aid for the reconstruction of Gaza to Dutch companies and only for homes, hospitals, and other civilian facilities. A motion calling for the Netherlands to provide January funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was rejected.