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On 3 march 2025, JJP started lobbying the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Foreign Affairs Spokesman of the major political parties, the American Embassy, the embassies of several EU member states, and other embassies.

The subject of our lobbying is the dangerous moment we are in, in which right-wing Israel finds a ready enabler in Donald Trump for its expansionism, its disregard for Palestinians’ political or human rights, and its willingness to apply unlimited lethal force to achieve its ends. We argue that the only way to prevent these policies from taking their course is for willing countries to tell this Israeli government there will be severe diplomatic and economic consequences if it does not desist.

A sample of our letters and the follow-up email are below

letter

Maartje Maria Noordam, Counsellor (Political Affairs) 10 March 2025

Dear Mrs. Noordam,

We are writing to request a meeting to discuss the dangerous developments in Gaza and the West Bank.

It looks increasingly likely that Prime Minister Netanyahu will try to find a way of aborting Stage 2 of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, blaming it on Hamas, and then restarting the war on Gaza’s population. He and his far right coalition partners claim the war is intended solely to destroy Hamas, but the nearly unanimous consensus of authoritative scholars of genocide has long been that it is a genocide. The extreme wing of the settlement movement, to which those coalition partners belong, wants to resettle an emptied Gaza.

Netanyahu will use Donald Trump’s support for aggressive Israeli policies as justification for restarting the war. While it is unclear whether Donald Trump is “proposing” or merely “recommending” the expulsion of the Palestinians from Gaza, or for what purpose, it is clear that he will support aggressive Israeli action to achieve what Netanyahu deems as Israel’s justified objectives in Gaza.

It remains to be seen whether the Arab reconstruction and governance plan will succeed in forestalling a renewed assault on Gaza. Despite the universal condemnation of his “Gaza Riviera” idea and the refusal of Prime Ministers Sisi and Abdullah to accept expelled Palestinians, Donald Trump could still threaten them with withdrawal of American economic and security aid if they continue to refuse. The pressure on them would be immense.

It is also clear that Donald Trump supports the long-held desire of the entire Israeli right wing to annex most or all of the West Bank. Therefore, the settlement approvals, the settler violence, the displacement of Palestinian communities, the attacks on Palestinian resistance groups, and the number of Palestinian dead, all of which have increased several-fold since 7^th October 2023, can be expected to continue. In an ominous echo of Gaza, some 40,000 Palestinians have been expelled from refugee camps.

We are in a dangerous moment in which right-wing Israel finds a ready enabler in Donald Trump for its expansionism, its disregard for Palestinians’ political or human rights, and its willingness to apply unlimited lethal force to achieve its ends. The only way to prevent these policies from taking their course is for willing countries to tell this Israeli government there will be severe diplomatic and economic consequences if it does not desist. The Netherlands should be part of that, as it was part of the demarches that have prevented Israel from building in the strategically important E1 area of the West Bank.

I hope to hear from you shortly to arrange a meeting.

Arthur Goodman

Parliamentary and Diplomatic Officer

follow-up email

Dear Mrs. Noordam,

We are writing again to request a meeting on Gaza and the West Bank. Our attached letter of 10 March explains the urgent issues we want to discuss.

It gives us absolutely no pleasure to say our predictions have come to pass. Prime Minister Netanyahu has aborted Stage 2 of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, blaming it on Hamas, and then restarted the war on Gaza’s population. The comment by the White House Press Secretary, that “Israel had consulted with United States President Donald Trump about the strikes” provided unspoken confirmation of his support.

Along with other European Union member states, The Netherlands has considerable leverage to pressure Israel to stop the resumed slaughter by suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Articles 2 and 79(2) of the Agreement allow this, indeed mandate it in the current circumstances. Pre-eminent among the benefits Israel enjoys under the Agreement are tariff-free exports into EU member states. That benefit should be suspended. Any arms exports to Israel should also be suspended. Failure to take these measures will tarnish the reputation of the Netherlands as a decent society that supports international law.

We cannot believe responsible Dutch leaders want the the Netherlands to go down that road.

I have also attached a brief description of JJP and the paper collating all the published opinions of authoritative scholars of genocide, the holocaust and international relations that we could find on whether Israeli actions in Gaza amounted to genocide. Since about March 2024, the universal consensus among those scholars is that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. For that reason, we adopted the term in our website statement on Gaza.

We hope you will be able to meet us quickly to discuss these matters.

Arthur goodman

Parliamentary and Diplomatic Officer

Jews for Justice for Palestinians

JJP Spring 2025 lobbying round-Donald Trump and right-wing Israel