Netherlands

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Country/TerritoryNetherlands

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  • The Netherlands funds numerous Israeli and Palestinian NGOs directly through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the Embassy in Tel Aviv, and the Representative Office in Ramallah (NRO), and indirectly through Dutch organizations, Oxfam-Novib and the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO).
  • According to the Dutch MFA’s “Human Rights, Democracy and the International Rule of Law Report 2024,” the Netherlands provided €2 million in direct and indirect funding to NGOs operating in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza in that year.
    • The report does not identify which NGOs are funded by the MFA and how much is allocated to each, reflecting a decrease in transparency from previous years. For instance, the MFA’s 2019 Human Rights Report (Mensenrechtenrapportage) identifies relevant NGOs and notes that the NRO provided €415,625 to “Various confidential projects” in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.
  • Revealing a lack of transparency, since 2021, the Dutch government Development Aid Portal has removed the names of “implementing organisation(s)” on multiple projects in areas designated as “Palestinian territories.” The Development Aid Portal does not display names of implementing partners or NGOs receiving Dutch funding on multiple projects in areas designated as “Palestinian territories.”
  • In January 2022, the Dutch Foreign Minister announced that the Netherlands will cease all funding to the Union of Agricultural Works Committee (UAWC). According to the Minister, an “external investigation of the UAWC made it sufficiently plausible that there had been ties at individual level between employees and board members of UAWC and the PFLP for some time.” The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is a designated terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. (See more on UAWC below.)
  • In June 2016, the Dutch Parliament passed a resolution calling for “the ending of funding to organizations that directly or indirectly pursue a boycott or sanctions against Israel.”

Developments Following October 7th

  • In May 2025, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp sent a letter to Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas, calling for a review of the EU’s trade agreement with Israel, citing “the situation in Gaza.” 
  • In January 2025, the Dutch Parliament passed a resolution making funding for Palestinian NGOs contingent on their recognition of Israel’s right to exist.
  • The Dutch MFA states that the Netherlands “supports” the ICC’s investigation into alleged war crimes in the context of the Israel-Hamas war, and that it “has set aside an additional €3 million to boost the ICC’s investigative capacity.”
  • In October 2023 – August 2025, the Netherlands allocated over €82 million for “additional humanitarian aid, especially for the Gaza Strip” as well as €20 million “for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, including €10 million to repair the water supply.” This includes an October 17, 2023 pledge of €10 million for food, water, and medicine for Gaza. According to the Minister of Development, these funds were earmarked for unnamed NGOs and UN organizations, as well as the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Recent Lawsuits Against the Netherlands by Dutch-Funded Dutch NGOs

  • ​In October 2024, SOMO — as well as Al Mezan, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Al-Haq,  the European Legal Support Center (ELSC), the Palestine Foundation, Plant een Olijfboom, the Kifaia Foundation, Nederlands Palestina Komitee (NPK), Groningen-Jabalya, Een Ander Joods Geluid and Erev Rav — filed a civil lawsuit against the Dutch government, alleging that the Netherlands “is not doing enough to prevent or end the violations and crimes committed by Israel,” citing its obligations to the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions. The lawsuit seeks to  implement “[a] ban on Dutch export and transit of weapons, weapon parts, and dual-use items to Israel” as well as “[a] ban on all Dutch trade and investment relations that help maintain the illegal occupation, racial segregation, and colonisation [emphasis added],” claiming that “[any] economic dealing with companies that operate in Israeli settlements is illegal.”
    • In December 2024, the District Court of The Hague ruled in favor of the Dutch state, rejecting the NGOs’ demands.
    • In March 2025, the coalition filed an appeal and on September 3, 2025, the NGOs appeared before the Dutch Court of Appeal to challenge the December 2024 ruling. A verdict is scheduled to be delivered on November 6, 2025.
  • In November 2023, Oxfam Novib and PAX, alongside Amnesty and the Rights Forum, announced they were suing the Netherlands for “continuing to export arms to Israel.” The lawsuit demanded “the immediate cessation of the supply of parts for Israeli F35 fighter planes.” 
    • A Dutch court rejected the lawsuit, noting that the government, “‘weighed the relevant interests’ before agreeing to the delivery of parts.” It stated that the “Dutch government [has] a large degree of freedom when it comes to weighing political and policy issues in deciding on arms exports.”
    • The NGOs appealed, and on February 12, 2024, the Dutch Court of Appeal ruled that the Netherlands must cease transfer of US-owned F-35 fighter jet components to Israel.
    • In June 2024, the NGOs continued their lawfare campaign with follow-up proceedings, alleging that the Netherlands was violating the February ruling through indirect exports, primarily via the US. On July 12, 2024, the Hague District Court rejected this claim.
    • On November 29, 2024, the Supreme Court’s advocate-general recommended that the Court uphold the appeals court’s February ban and reaffirm that continuing exports violates international law obligations.
    • On October 3, 2025, the Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeal and ruled that the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation must reassess the decision to grant an export licence for F-35 parts to Israel within six weeks, while the suspension of the licence remains in effect pending that review. In response, the Minister tweeted, “The Supreme Court’s ruling is clear. The court should not have ordered the State to halt the export of F-35 components to Israel. Given the current situation, resuming exports is not reasonable.”

Direct Funding

Funding via Representative Office in Ramallah (NRO)

NRO Funding to Palestinian NGOs

NRO Funding to Israeli NGOs

MFA Funding to Palestinian NGOs

MFA Funding to Israeli NGOs

  • Ir Amim
    • In 2024-2025, Ir Amim received €244,950 from the MFA.
    • Ir Amim’s activities include “Monitoring” and “exposing” Israeli government actions in Jerusalem, “policy and legal advocacy,” and running highly politicized tours of Jerusalem and the security barrier.

Funding via Embassy in Tel Aviv

Lack of Transparency

Indirect Funding

SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations)

  • In 2021-2025, the Netherlands and Oxfam Novib are together allocating €4.7 million to “Fair for All,” a joint project by Oxfam Novib and SOMO that operates, inter alia, in the West Bank and Gaza.
  • SOMO’s research claims to “expose[] the corporate impunity that characterises the business-as-usual approach of many multinationals operating in occupied Palestine. Through activities like tourism and the unlawful exploitation of Palestinian natural resources such as stone, gas, and agricultural products, these corporations actively support Israel’s illegal settlement economy.”
  • In October 2023, in the aftermath of the brutal Hamas atrocities, SOMO published a statement claiming, “The grave abuses we are watching unfold did not start after 7 October. For decades, the Palestinian people have been subjected to systemic abuse, apartheid and war crimes under cover of a blanket of impunity granted by third states.”
  • On July 15, 2025, SOMO published a report titled “Economic sanctions now: the EU is Israel’s largest investor,” calling on the EU to impose economic sanctions on Israel.
  • In April 2025, SOMO published a report accusing Israel of “systematically us[ing] dogs to brutalise Palestinians, including children, elderly people, and detainees, sometimes with fatal consequences,” with many of these dogs coming from the Netherlands. According to SOMO, there is a “significant risk that police dogs exported from the Netherlands are used by the Israeli army in international law abuses…By allowing the export of military dogs to Israel to continue, the Netherlands is failing to abide by its international legal obligations.”
  • In December 2024, SOMO published a report titled “Powering injustice,” which claims that “Israel’s energy sector is implicated in international law violations,” and demands that Israel’s West Bank communities be denied electricity and fuel. 
  • In June 2024, SOMO and Al-Haq Europe commissioned a legal opinion to “examine the legal consequences of the ICJ’s order for Third States and corporations.” The opinion recommends implementing an “Arms embargo… Sanctions …. [and] Criminal and administrative proceedings” against Israel.
  • In November 2023, SOMO, alongside European Legal Support Center (ELSC), Al-Haq, and the Rights Forum, filed a criminal complaint with the Dutch Public Prosecutor accusing Booking.com of “laundering funds obtained from the commission of war crimes” and being “instrumental in facilitating the criminal Israeli settlement enterprise.” In May 2024, Booking.com rejected the allegations and affirmed, “we will permit listings anywhere in the world unless legally prohibited by the domestic laws…Currently, there are no applicable laws that prohibit listing properties in Israeli Settlements in the West Bank.”
  • In May 2024, SOMO initiated a campaign, including  a legal briefing, calling for “an embargo on jet fuel and crude oil” against Israel.

Oxfam-Novib

PAX

Kerk in Actie

Funding via the United Nations

Funding to the Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian Fund

  • In 2025, the Netherlands provided $11.5 million to the Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF), an “emergency pooled fund” directed by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Funding to the World Food Program

Dutch Funding to Israeli and Palestinian NGOs

NGOMechanismAmountYear
Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC)MFA€2,000,0002024-2025
Ir AmimMFA€244,9502024-2025
Union of Agricultural Works Committee (UAWC)NRO€11.5 million2017-2021
€8,400,0002013-2018
€13,000,000 2017-2021
AkevotMFANIS 9,9942021
Al MezanNRO€202,0552018-2019
€192,2802018
Palestinian Working Woman Society for DevelopmentNRO€83,600 2018
Independent Commission for Human Rights NRO€623,113 2017-2020
€770,993 2017-2019
AMAN CoalitionNRO€961,028 2013-2018
Breaking the Silence NRO €191,8402018
B’TselemNRO€167,2002018
MFANIS 7,1152017
GishaEmbassy TLV€62,7002018
BimkomEmbassy TLV€75,2402018
Yesh DinNRO€160,9302018
Public Committee Against Torture in IsraelNRONIS 30,6552021
HaMokedEmbassy TLVNIS 480,0002021-2023
Comet-MENRO€615,5242019
€852,2232018
€816,6952017
MUSAWANRO€1,300,0002016-2019
Association for Civil Rights in IsraelEmbassy TLVNIS 140,4372016
Geneva InitiativeEmbassy TLVNIS 209,9932018

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