A Crack in Europe’s Wall of Silence and Inaction
On Friday, something extraordinary happened in Europe — something almost unthinkable within the European Commission or across the Atlantic. Caspar Veldkamp, the Dutch Foreign Minister, resigned from office rather than continue serving in a government that refused to sanction Israel for war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.
Within hours, his entire party — the New Social Contract (NSC), including Deputy Prime Minister Eddy van Hijum, the Interior and Education ministers, the Health minister, and several state secretaries — followed him out of the fragile coalition.
This was no symbolic gesture. Veldkamp is not an unknown backbencher; he is a seasoned diplomat, a former ambassador to Israel itself. Few Europeans know Israel more intimately. He witnessed the apartheid system from inside, and now the genocide in Gaza, all while the international community remains paralysed in action, but with some strong words of condemnation. Confronted with a cabinet unwilling to act, he chose conscience over complicity.
This story is not just about Dutch politics. It is about the cracks forming in the West’s unconditional defence of Israel
Explaining his decision, Veldkamp told reporters:
“I felt resistance in the cabinet against more measures as a result of what is happening in Gaza City and the occupied West Bank… I saw efforts to meet me halfway, but in the end the concessions were insufficient… I have too little confidence that in the coming weeks and months I could act responsibly if I am restricted from pursuing the policy I deem necessary.”
A sitting European foreign minister walked away, saying he could no longer act “responsibly” while famine raged in Gaza. That is a political earthquake.
Why It Matters
Veldkamp’s resignation matters for three reasons.
First, it exposes what many in power have sought to hide: Western governments know what Israel is doing. They know it bluntly violates international law. And yet, they succumb to pressure and choose paralysis, or even false neutrality. Veldkamp’s break makes that complicity explicit.
Second, his career makes him a devastating witness. He was no enemy of Israel; he was its ambassador, its partner, its friend. If even he resigns, it signals the moral bankruptcy of Europe’s position.
And third, this was not just one man’s choice. It was an entire party withdrawing from government, destabilising an already weakened caretaker coalition. Gaza’s genocide is no longer just a humanitarian catastrophe abroad. It is shaking European politics at home.
The Immediate Trigger: Boycotts, Arms, and Famine
The resignation was sparked by a cabinet debate over boycotting goods from Israel’s illegal West Bank settlements. Veldkamp pushed hard, arguing the Netherlands could not condemn settlements while continuing to import their products. But coalition partners — the centre-right VVD and the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement — blocked him, insisting such a boycott should only be pursued “at the European level.” Others flatly opposed any new measures.
The day before, parliament had also voted down a motion to stop Israeli-linked arms sales to the Dutch military. Even in the face of genocide, even in the week that famine in Gaza was officially declared by UN-backed experts, Veldkamp’s government, led by Dick Schoof, refused to act. For him, that crossed a moral line.
This timing matters. His resignation coincided precisely with the famine declaration — one of only four famines officially recognised in two decades. Children skeletal, mothers unable to breastfeed, families clawing at crumbs. This famine is not a natural disaster. It is solely deliberately provoked by Israel.
When Veldkamp said he was “insufficiently able to take meaningful additional measures,” he was talking about famine and mass starvation. His cabinet refused to treat the deliberate starvation of Palestinians as reason enough to act. So he walked.
The Shadow of The Hague
There is a deeper hypocrisy here. The Netherlands hosts the International Criminal Court in The Hague. This is where global justice is supposed to be enforced. It is also the city where 150,000 Dutch citizens marched in June — the largest protest in two decades — demanding sanctions and accountability.
That contrast is brutal: a government in The Hague refusing to sanction genocide while its people fill the streets, while the world’s top tribunal sits only a few blocks away. The ICC investigates genocide elsewhere — Darfur, Myanmar, and South Sudan. But when genocide is committed by Israel, backed by the U.S., Germany, and other European partners, Europe paralyses itself.
Veldkamp’s resignation exposes that contradiction. The Dutch government now stands, with Berlin and Washington, on the wrong side of history — complicit in crimes against humanity while preaching international law.
Pressure From Below
The protests mattered. Veldkamp himself acknowledged that citizens’ demands for action influenced his decision. About 150,000 people marched in The Hague — the largest mobilisation since the Iraq War. That mattered. It showed politicians that silence is not free.
This is the lesson: protest cannot always stop bombs, but it can break walls of complicity. It can make ministers resign.
Europe’s Geopolitical Paralysis
Meanwhile, Europe as a whole remains paralysed. Ursula von der Leyen, previously Olaf Scholz, and now Friedrich Merz double down on “Israel’s right to defend itself,” even after more than 60,000 Palestinians are dead and famine is officially declared. Coalition partners in the Netherlands — VVD and BBB — blocked sanctions, refusing even a boycott of settlement goods.
This is not neutrality. It is an obstruction of an action against apartheid and genocide. And it is proof of Europe’s impotence. The EU, once a self-proclaimed “normative, moral power,” now reveals itself incapable of defending the very norms it enshrines in law.
Compare with America
Across the Atlantic, silence is even deeper. Congress continues to authorise billions in military aid to Israel, blocks ceasefire resolutions at the UN, and welcomes Netanyahu as an honoured guest. Donald Trump promises to go further, boasting he would let Israel “finish the job.”
No U.S. cabinet minister has resigned. No member of Congress has said what Veldkamp said: that they cannot act responsibly under such conditions. The silence in Washington is bipartisan and total.
Europe is no better — but cracks are now visible. And those cracks matter.
A Former Ambassador Breaks Ranks
Do not underestimate the symbolic power of this break. Veldkamp was once an ambassador to Israel. He knows its system intimately: the apartheid, the settlements, the 2018 supremacist law declaring Israel a “Jewish nation-state.” He cannot be dismissed as naïve or antisemitic.
When he resigns, he carries that credibility with him — leaving his government exposed, discredited, morally bankrupt, and aligned with genocide supporters. It also leaves Europe humiliated: the Netherlands, seat of the ICC, is now complicit in the very crimes its institutions were created to judge.
The Lesson of History
Resignations over Israel’s actions are almost unheard of in Europe. Condemnations, yes. Symbolic motions, yes. But ministers sacrificing office? Rarely. That is why this moment belongs in history.
Years from now, when Gaza’s famine is remembered, when historians count the dead, they will alsask, Who spoke? Who resigned? Who refused complicity? Caspar Veldkamp’s name will be among the answers.
Conscience or Complicity?
This story is not just about Dutch politics. It is about the cracks forming in the West’s unconditional defence of Israel. It is about how famine and apartheid, once denied, are now destabilising European governments and credibility. It is about the power of protest to force moral lines.
Veldkamp said it plainly: Israel is violating international law. His government refused to act. So, he left.
The choice is now ours: conscience or complicity. What do we want our children, grandchildren, and students to read about us in the history books?
Ricardo Martins, PhD in Sociology, specializing in International Relations and Geopolitics