Israel's Foreign Ministry has warned travelers to the Netherlands that they may face "prolonged and offensive" luggage searches under the European country's new ban on products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
In a notice issued overnight Monday, the ministry's consular services division said it had "recently" received reports of such incidents.
The Dutch settlement ban, which was first reported in July, took effect last Tuesday. Under the policy, travelers entering the Netherlands are barred from bringing in "goods from unlawful Israeli settlements," according to the Dutch Customs Administration, which is part of the Finance Ministry and is responsible for enforcing the measure.
"The ban applies to all goods that were wholly or partly obtained or made in an unlawful Israeli settlement," the Customs Administration website states.
Israeli officials have sharply criticized the measure, calling it "petty politics," while Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar revoked the diplomatic credentials of diplomats at the Netherlands' mission in Ramallah in response to the settlement import ban.
"If the Netherlands wishes to continue representing its interests with the Palestinians, it may do so from Palestinian Authority territory, rather than from the territory of the State of Israel," Sa'ar said in a statement.
Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen responded on Monday by saying he regretted Jerusalem's "unnecessary decision." Berendsen stressed that the import ban was not directed at Israel itself, saying it "stems from the obligation under international law not to contribute to an unlawful situation – the illegal settlements."
Following the entry into force last week of an order banning the import and sale of products from Judea and Samaria, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, we informed the Dutch Embassy in Israel this evening that Dutch diplomats operating in Ramallah must return their
Huckabee: Settlement ban 'insane'
Zvi Vapni, Israel's ambassador to the Netherlands, criticized Amsterdam over the ban.
"Don't mistake the driving force behind these boycotts for truth or pragmatism. Too often, the initiative is less about doing good and more about petty politics," he wrote on social media.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also weighed in, writing on X on Sunday that several Dutch members of his church were due to return to the Netherlands on Monday and "have to check their souvenirs to make sure they aren't from Judea/Samaria," using the biblical names for the two regions that make up the West Bank.
There were some people from Netherlands in our church this morning who are flying back tomorrow & have to check their souvenirs to make sure they aren’t from Judea/Samaria-possible 6 yr prison term. A Nativity set from Bethlehem could put you in prison! Insane!
According to this account, Dutch authorities sent all passengers on an @elal flight arriving in Amsterdam for a customs inspection to see if they had evil products from Jerusalem, the Golan or other “settlements” in their suitcase. A real outrage nieuwrechts.nl/113322-heksenj…
Huckabee, an Evangelical Christian and longtime supporter of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, called it "insane" that a "nativity set from Bethlehem could put you in prison."
However, there are no Jewish settlements in Bethlehem – as Huckabee himself noted in a subsequent post on X – and the city does not appear on the Taxation and Customs Union list. The scenario he described would therefore most likely not trigger penalties under the ban in reality.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid also criticized the policy on social media Sunday evening, accusing the Netanyahu government of presiding over an unprecedented decline in Israel's international standing.
"The fact that Israelis are landing in the Netherlands and [Dutch authorities are] rummaging through their bags to search for and seize products from [West Bank] settlements is a diplomatic failure unlike anything before," he wrote on X.
Sa'ar responded on Monday morning by saying that Lapid's political platform includes the establishment of a Palestinian state "in the heart of our country."
"He's the last person that will be able to stand against the attempts to impose on Israel precisely this," Sa'ar wrote.
What does the ban entail?
Travelers are directed to a list published by the European Commission's Taxation and Customs Union to determine whether a location falls under the ban. The list includes Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as Israeli communities across the Golan Heights.
Travelers found to be violating the ban may either surrender the goods voluntarily or have them confiscated. In both cases, customs officials will file a report and pass the information to the Public Prosecution Service, which will decide "whether any further penalties will follow," according to the Customs Administration.
The website mentions only the possibility of a fine, though The Jewish Chronicle reported that violations could carry a prison sentence of up to six years.
All three territories were captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. East Jerusalem was annexed through legislation in July 1980, followed by the Golan Heights the year after, which extended Israeli civilian law to both territories. The West Bank, by contrast, remains under military rule.
Neither annexation is widely recognized internationally, while Israel's military occupation of the West Bank has remained a central issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Israel's diplomatic relationships for decades.
