Israel President Isaac Herzog rebuked Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof for allegedly misrepresenting their phone conversation and for failing to mention Israeli hostages in a subsequent communiqué about the call.
Herzog’s role as Israel’s president is a ceremonial one, but as a left-wing counterweight to a right-wing government, he is a unifying figure in Israel, and often conducts diplomacy on behalf of the Jewish state.
Schoof had called Herzog to discuss a proposed European Union (EU) boycott of Israeli participation in a research program, and to threaten additional boycotts, in protest against Israel’s war of self-defense in Gaza.
He declared:
[T]he people of Gaza must be given immediate, unfettered, safe access to humanitarian aid. If the EU decides tomorrow that Israel is not in compliance with the relevant agreements on this, the Netherlands supports the plan to suspend Israeli participation in the EU research programme Horizon. If that proves to be the case, tomorrow in Brussels the Netherlands will also press for further European measures, for example in the realm of trade.
He said he had “conveyed” that information to Herzog.
Herzog responded:
Sorry Prime Minister, with all due respect- this tweet does not reflect the spirit and details of the call. Nor does it reflect my crystal clear position that it will be a HUGE mistake if EU takes such steps especially in light of Israel’s ongoing and upgraded humanitarian efforts.I am especially saddened that the plight of our hostages and the demand for their immediate release are not even mentioned!
Schoof, as Breitbart News has reported, is “a technocrat installed as leader as the other parties were unwilling to crown kingmaker [Geert] Wilders as Prime Minister himself” after the right won the 2023 general election.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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