Leading Jewish organisations in the Netherlands have accused senior Dutch statesman Frans Timmermans of antisemitism after he compared the actions of right-wing Israelis to those of Nazi Germany during an interview with a Belgian newspaper, reports Jerusalem News Syndicate.
Timmermans, a former Dutch foreign minister and former First Vice-President of the European Commission, made the remarks in an interview with De Morgen. Earlier this month, he was appointed as a Minister of State, an honorary position in which distinguished former politicians advise the Dutch government and the King on matters of national importance.
During the interview, Timmermans argued that some right-wing and far-right Israelis believe that Jews can only survive if Palestinians are removed. He claimed this was „exactly the same reasoning” used by the Nazis, who argued that the German people could only survive if Jews were eliminated.
He further alleged that „an entire people is currently being exterminated” in the Middle East and accused the international community of remaining silent while Palestinians were being driven from their land.
Israel has consistently rejected accusations that its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza constitutes genocide. The Israeli government maintains that it is acting in self-defence following Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack, while the United States and several other governments have also disputed claims that Israel is committing genocide. The European Union has not adopted such a characterisation.
Timmermans, who was widely praised by many European Jewish organisations during his time at the European Commission for speaking out against antisemitism, became leader of the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) and GreenLeft (GroenLinks) alliance in 2023 before stepping down in 2025.
His latest remarks have prompted a strong backlash from Dutch Jewish leaders.
The Central Jewish Consultation (CJO), the umbrella body representing Dutch Jewish organisations, has written to Prime Minister Rob Jetten urging him to publicly distance himself from Timmermans’ comments and calling on the former European Commission official to relinquish his honorary title.
CJO Chairman Chanan Hertzberger described the remarks as antisemitic and warned that any failure by the government to respond would be deeply damaging to the Jewish community and to the integrity of Holocaust remembrance in the Netherlands.
Esther Voet, Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish newspaper Nieuw Israëlietisch Weekblad (NIW), also sharply criticised Timmermans in an editorial.
Voet argued that comparing Israel with Nazi Germany falls within examples contained in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, which identifies drawing comparisons between contemporary Israeli policy and that of the Nazis as a potential manifestation of antisemitism, depending on the context.
She noted that Timmermans had previously warned that „the new antisemitism” often disguises itself as anti-Zionism, but argued that his latest comments represented precisely the kind of rhetoric he had once condemned.
The controversy has intensified debate in the Netherlands over the boundaries between legitimate criticism of Israeli government policy and rhetoric that Jewish organisations argue crosses into antisemitism.
Photo credit: Pierre Crom/Getty Images
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