By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS (Worthy News) – A tense calm returned to the Netherlands’ parliament Wednesday after pro-Palestine activists interrupted a memorial service for Dutch ex-Prime Minister Dries van Agt, who branded Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu “a war criminal” and became a voice for Palestinians.
The 93-year-old Catholic and his longtime wife died by euthanasia this month holding hands, his family said. Dries van Agt was married for 70 years to Eugenie, whom he referred to as “my girl.”
The two had been in fragile health for some time. In 2019, Van Agt suffered a brain hemorrhage while giving a speech at a commemoration event for Palestinians and never fully recovered.
Yet a memorial service for Van Agt was disrupted by pro-Palestine activists carrying a Palestinian flag. “Free Palestine!” the activists shouted. “He was the only politician who stood up for Palestine. The only one!”
The recently elected chair of the Lower House of Parliament, Martin Bosma, linked to the anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV), was quick to ask the activists “to please leave.”
Soon after, the service resumed for Van Agt, the first leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party, serving as prime minister of the Netherlands from 1977 to 1982.
Despite his CDA background, he forged his own political path and founded The Rights Forum, a controversial pro-Palestinian group that opposes what Van Agt termed “blind support for Israel.”
POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE
He also caused a political earthquake in the Netherlands by describing Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as a war criminal who should be tried in the International Criminal Court in the Dutch city of The Hague.
In comments ahead of Netanyahu’s visit to The Netherlands in 2016, he told Dutch television, “A war criminal is coming to this country.”
He added that the “occupation and expansion… building of settlements, of occupied territory, this is according to the Rome Statute, which is… the statute on which the international criminal court is based, in many words, a war crime.”
In a rambling interview, the then 85-year-old wondered, “Why should we receive someone who continues with such things?”
However, Netanyahu has said that Israel “cares more about Palestinians than their own leaders do.”
In 2012, Van Agt caused controversy after saying Jews should have built a state in Germany rather than in the Middle East.
Dutch pro-Israel group Likoed Nederland said in a statement: “Van Agt merits no serious podium.”
JUSTICE SENSE
Yet he got one on Tuesday where Van Agt was even praised for “a strong sense of justice.” He “acted with his conscience,” noted outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the likely new secretary-general of the NATO military alliance.
Despite his controversial views on Israel, a state he initially supported, “Van Agt’s life motto came from the apostle Paul: Examine everything, but keep what is good,” Rutte claimed.
Although at least some Jewish groups and Holocaust survivors accused him of antisemitism, the president of the Senate, Jan Anthonie Bruijn, and even pro-Israel Martin Bosma also emphasized his “remarkable” work.
Bruijn described the former prime minister as an “unconventional and innovative politician who always remained true to himself,” while Bosma called van Agt “a political icon.”
Van Agt, who said he gave up his CDA membership in 2021 “in support of the Palestinian people,” became progressive in his later years, Rutte noted. Rutte referred to Van Agt’s “passionate” support for the Palestinian cause.
Van Agt entered nationwide politics as a progressive Nijmegen lawyer but “quickly developed as ultra-conservative,” Rutte recalled. He started as justice minister and became the prime minister of three cabinets. Van Agt later came under fire over his handling of a train hijacking by Moluccan nationalists in 1977.
The hijacking lasted 20 days and ended with a raid by Dutch counter-terrorist forces, during which two hostages and six hijackers were killed. Van Agt, then justice minister, allegedly ordered the killing of the hijackers, charges he vehemently denied.
In 2007, a memorial service was held for the killed hijackers. Two of the surviving hijackers, who became Christians, held a meeting with former victims the same year as part of their attempts to heal the wounds of history.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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