Dutch Politics in deeper turmoil as NSC leaves cabinet over Israel

THE HAGUE--All ministers and state secretaries from Nieuw Sociaal Contract resigned after Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp quit in protest at the failure to agree new Dutch sanctions against Israel, a rupture that instantly reshaped the balance inside the caretaker cabinet and the campaign conversation ahead of the October election.

Veldkamp said he could not continue without “substantial” measures, a position he had previewed in parliament while pushing for steps such as an import ban on settlement goods. His departure triggered a coordinated walkout by NSC colleagues, with the remaining cabinet assigning temporary coverage of the portfolios while the government continues in caretaker mode.

The immediate parliamentary aftermath underlined how fractured the chamber remains on Israel policy. Parties reconvened for further debate, but MPs failed to converge on a single package of national measures even as pressure mounted for a harder line following reports of famine conditions in Gaza and continued settlement expansion in the West Bank. The result was procedural churn rather than consensus, with proposals ranging from targeted trade restrictions to broader embargo ideas, and repeated references to what a demissionary cabinet can legitimately do during an election period.

The NSC exit does not occur in a vacuum. The Schoof cabinet has been a caretaker operation since early June, after PVV quit the coalition during a confrontation over asylum policy. That collapse set the tone for a summer of constrained governing, as both chambers drew up lists of issues to be treated as controversial and therefore deferred, while the Electoral Council and ministers settled on a snap vote for October 29. In this framework, anything resembling a major sanctions architecture was always going to test the limits of caretaker convention, which helps explain both the scale of last week’s confrontation and the difficulty of turning debate lines into executable policy.

Substantively, Veldkamp’s push reflected a clear shift in where the Netherlands sits inside the wider European argument. The cabinet had already signaled a tougher posture in recent months, including barring two far right Israeli ministers and joining statements critical of settlement building, yet the coalition partners never fully aligned on how far to go unilaterally. VVD and BBB telegraphed caution about sweeping embargoes, while opposition figures pressed for faster, firmer action, a tension that played out over hours of debate without yielding a durable center of gravity. When NSC balked at another round of incrementalism, the floor gave way.

Politically, the resignation cascade crystallizes the election stakes. The campaign will now carry two layered questions into October. First, what precise mix of measures toward Israel commands a parliamentary majority, from settlement product bans to broader trade or visa restrictions. Second, how much authority should a cabinet claim between collapses and coalitions, in a system that often relies on painstaking agreements to act decisively. NSC will argue that principle required action and a clean break, while rivals will frame the episode as evidence either of overreach in caretaker time or of moral hesitation that wasted precious weeks.

The institutional picture is just as important as the partisan one. Caretaker status narrows the aperture for new initiatives, because committees in both chambers can brand major files as controversial and hold them until a new government is formed. That tool has been used repeatedly since June, which means even the most coherent sanctions design would still need to pass through a procedural gate before implementation. The Israel debate exposed that reality on live television: MPs argued policy, then ran straight into the mechanics of caretaker governance.

Where does this leave policy. On the foreign front, momentum likely shifts to positions that can be aligned with European partners, for example reinforcement of EU level listings or enforcement actions that the Netherlands can execute without fresh domestic legislation. At home, party leaders will test messages that connect Israel policy to broader claims about competence and principle, while also returning to the asylum fight that detonated the cabinet in the first place. With the clock now set for October 29, the chamber will process only the least contentious business and save the rest for a coalition that can both claim a mandate and live with the consequences.

In sum, the NSC resignations turned a long running argument over how far and how fast to move on Israel into a hard political reckoning. Parliament could not dictate a compromise in the moment, the cabinet could not contain the split, and the Netherlands will now ask voters to decide which combination of principles and pragmatism should carry into the next government.

‍