Israel ordered its ambassador to the Netherlands to return immediately on Wednesday after he condemned remarks by two far-right Israeli ministers and said he felt no obligation to defend them.
The Foreign Ministry summoned Zvi Aviner Vapni to explain comments he made in an interview with the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, the Israel Hayom daily reported.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich “have said things that I find terrible and unacceptable,” Vapni told the Dutch newspaper, adding: “I feel no need whatsoever to protect them.”
Envoy condemns illegal settler violence
Vapni also called violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank “hooligans and Jewish terrorists.”
“They should all go to prison,” he said. “I think 80 percent of Israelis agree with that. That violence must stop. I do not want to defend it; what they are doing is reprehensible.”
Strained ties with the Netherlands
The recall comes amid strained relations between Israel and the Netherlands.
Around 200,000 demonstrators dressed in red marched through Amsterdam on Sunday, demanding action against Israel and carrying signs calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza.
In late August, the Netherlands banned imports from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel retaliated by expelling Dutch representatives from the Civil-Military Coordination Centre in Kiryat Gat, which oversees arrangements relating to Gaza.
