Middle East

Israel's ambassador to the Netherlands: why is the Dutch cabinet silent on 'Minister of State' Frans Timmermans' Nazi comparison?

Frans Timmermans and Ambassador Zvi Aviner Vapni / photo: social media

Weeks after protesters tried to silence him at a Rotterdam holocaust commemoration, Israel's Ambassador to the Netherlands is going public with a demand of his own. In an interview with the Reformatorisch Dagblad he wants The Hague to explicitly distance itself from a remark by former GroenLinks-PvdA-leader, former vice-president of the European Commission and now Dutch 'Minister of State' Frans Timmermans that he calls "a textbook example of antisemitism." So far, he says, the Dutch cabinet has stayed silent — read on for the full story and analysis.

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