Israel has revoked the diplomatic credentials of Dutch officials based in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, giving them seven days to surrender their Israeli-issued papers. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced the move on Sunday, warning that after the deadline "the diplomatic privileges and immunities granted to them by the State of Israel will expire." Saar said the decision was a direct response to the Netherlands enforcing a ban on goods imported from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and east Jerusalem.
The Netherlands began formally enforcing the import ban this week, with Dutch authorities applying it to both commercial shipments and personal baggage. In recent days, passengers arriving at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport from Israel reportedly had their luggage checked for prohibited goods. The Dutch government had announced the policy earlier this month, with ministers citing "serious concerns" about deteriorating conditions in the occupied territories, where settler violence against Palestinians has risen sharply — already surpassing 1,000 recorded incidents in 2025 by July, roughly six per day. The ban was part of a coordinated move by twelve Western nations, including Britain and France, to impose sanctions on settlement goods.
Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan Heights, and east Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and has maintained control of them since. Settlements established in those territories are considered illegal under international law. Today, approximately 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank alongside roughly three million Palestinians.
Saar went further in his criticism, accusing the Dutch government of adopting a "hostile stance" toward Israel and claiming it was not doing enough to combat antisemitism inside the Netherlands. He also noted that Dutch personnel had been expelled from a civil-military coordination centre in Israel through which Israel and fifteen other countries — including the Netherlands — monitor the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and coordinate humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts in Gaza. The Dutch foreign ministry had not publicly responded to the announcements at the time of reporting.
The diplomatic rupture marks a significant escalation in tensions between Israel and European governments over settlement policy. The coordinated Western sanctions and the Dutch enforcement measures reflect growing international pressure, while Israel's response — stripping diplomatic status from officials operating in Palestinian territory — signals its willingness to use access and accreditation as a tool of retaliation. Critics warn such steps could hamper international monitoring of conditions on the ground at a time when a two-state solution, in the Dutch ministers' own words, "is moving ever further out of reach."