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Quebec Jewish Physicians Association members unite to fight antisemitism in the medical system

It’s not like Lior Bibas is signing as many petitions as he is medical reports—but it certainly seems like the prescriptions need writing.

The Montreal cardiologist and president of the Quebec Jewish Physician Association (AMJQ) added his voice to the Global Jewish Health Alliance (GJHA) condemning the Jan. 2 call by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for the global medical community to cut ties with Israel.

Albanese’s proposal is dangerous and endangers global healthcare progress, Bibas posted on social media. “Cutting ties with Israel, a leader in medical R&D, would delay or derail life-saving treatments,” he wrote. “Open science and global collaboration are the bedrock of progress in healthcare. This affects everyone.” Calls for academic and medical boycotts erode decades of trust, delay innovation, and disrupt care worldwide he said, urging the UN, World Health Organization and other professionals to condemn Albanese’s appeal. “Medical boycotts harm everyone—they don’t build a path to peace and certainly do not build a better world.”

Bibas co-founded the AMJQ in the weeks following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel. “We heard that trainees were having a hard time, and we’ve lived it every time there’s a war, like in 2021” he told The CJN. “We saw a worsening of the situation and were hearing stories of trainees removed from study groups, others put on the defensive about what’s happening, very uncomfortable situations,” and some saw relationships with residents deteriorating very quickly.

“I myself did eight years of residency,” said Bibas, an assistant professor of medicine at Université de Montréal. “Medical training is very hierarchical. You are getting evaluated constantly, it’s really hard and you don’t want to ruffle feathers, which can really have a negative impact on your career.” The AMJQ counts some 400 physicians and 150 medical students and residents as members.

The group participated in the national survey of some 1,000 Jewish Canadian medical professionals, and while it hasn’t released specific results yet, Bibas says there are similarities with Ontario counterparts. “Trainees are getting the brunt of all this. Their entire training ecosystem—relationships with peers and physicians—has changed.”

Whether anti-Zionist remarks, blaming Jews for Israel’s actions, or other behaviour, it can be debilitating in a grueling academic/career setting. “I’m not saying there’s systemic antisemitism in Quebec’s medical system. There are incidents that are dealt with, but issues of trust remain… One of the biggest problems is getting trainees to testify. They don’t trust the system.” The fear of retaliation is so strong, that some students are unwilling to report incidents, even anonymously.

“Even though I think people need to be a bit more outspoken, I understand their hesitation because I once faced an issue with an attending that could have set back my career severely due to power dynamics in academia.”  

One first-year Jewish Montreal medical student, who spoke to The CJN anonymously for fear of reprisal, saying within two months of beginning studies he was confronted by two students demanding he explain why Israel “withholds vaccines” from Gazans.

“I was terrified and felt trapped and laughed, asking them if they thought child hostages should be vaccinated. One laughed back and shouted that ‘You can’t stop lying!’. It completely changed my trajectory here. It’s head down and ignore. I’ll speak out when I have the energy to.”

Speaking out is what Bibas is doing, by pushing back on French radio, television, and social media, against unrest on streets and campuses, and calls for medical boycotts.

Bibas also says while some colleagues talk of leaving Canada, “I don’t interpret that as people packing their suitcases. I haven’t heard of anyone from Quebec leaving. They may feel they may have no choice, but not because of what’s happening now in hospitals. More because of our future. I have a great practice, I love my work, but I see my kids and I don’t know… Do they have a long life here? With the way things are going, is there a future for our children?”

Elie Haddad knows the feeling. The pediatric immunologist came to Montreal 20 years ago for professional opportunities, “but also because my wife and I thought that France did not have a good future for Jews. So we wanted to leave.” He was often confronted with antisemitism, “of course, in the street, in the hospital, everywhere. It has become banal in France.”

Quebec was “a peaceful haven. We were incredibly surprised, at almost every level we found a beautiful community life, a respectful, multicultural society where people respect laws. It was going so well, but over the years, especially the last five years, we’ve noticed a dramatic abrupt change with regard to antisemitism.”

He himself experienced only one serious incident in the Quebec workplace which marked him significantly but praised his institution’s response as “incredible support which was very reassuring.”

Haddad doubts people really want to leave. “We know as Jews we may have to leave at anytime from any country, so this is saying ‘I feel I’m ready if it’s necessary’. On the contrary, we must not say we’re going to leave, we must fight. We share a vision as Quebecers: separation of religion and state, individual rights, respect for religions, respect for others. It’s a beautiful society and I don’t think we should let it be ruined by dark individuals.”

Bibas agrees. “I’m an optimist. People are saying we should leave but I personally don’t like that kind of talk. If things are not going the way we want, then we need to be empowered. It’s time to show strength and unity. Let’s stay. We belong here. It’s not time to leave because the going is a bit tough. We have it pretty good here and have to fight for that.”

He regularly makes the case that the Jewish and wider Québécois communities share common values that reject hate, fundamentalist and anti-western sentiment recently and regularly articulated in Montreal streets. “We want to live in peace. We respect other people but want people to respect us. And I think what’s happening in Quebec, specifically in Montreal, where people see 15 months of riots, disorder and chaos, is an international embarrassment that will likely affect the standing and investment in Canada and Montreal.”

He deplored the “complete indifference and inaction of Mayor (Valérie) Plante. Really, it’s embarrassing, the fact she just tweets meaningless things. What is she waiting for, more bullets?”

A clinician researcher in a Montreal hospital, Haddad concurs and points out that in France “the situation continues to worsen in a horrible downward spiral for Jews. In Quebec, it’s a multicultural society, it’s beautiful and it can work, but you have to respect the laws and enforce the laws. It’s hard when you have a mayor who does nothing, and people see that and continue with hateful speech, calling for people’s deaths, and we see how our youth, particularly in English-speaking universities, are stigmatized.”

Bibas is a child of Bill 101, raised in the French school system and integrated into Quebec society, and says there’s much to share, and the Jewish doctors group presents itself proudly in French. “We’re a Quebec organization. We want to continue building, contributing to Quebec. We work with patients from all backgrounds, we understand Quebec society, politics, and culture. We want to bridge that gap and show we’re part of the community. We’ve been here for over 250 years and aren’t asking for special treatment—we’re not causing disruptions or protests. We’re not the ones destroying the streets.”

The AMJQ came out prominently in April, responding to a March letter published by a doctors’ collective denouncing Israel’s military campaign. In a written response in French-language media, the AMJQ slammed the letter as a “militant pamphlet conveying mendacious rhetoric” which in addition “to expressing a humanism with variable geometry, spreads erroneous information with impunity, without concern for the accuracy of the facts, with the result of misinforming Quebecers and stigmatizing Israel.”

War is always monstrous, they wrote, regardless of who it affects. “For us, AMJQ doctors, a Palestinian mother who has lost her child constitutes the same calamity as the Israeli mother who mourns hers. Our compassion has no double standards.”

On Jan. 6, a group of Montreal-area medical professionals walked off the job to protest outside Radio-Canada offices, calling for an arms embargo, ceasefire and medical boycotts. Those who could not attend were encouraged to wear pins and keffiyehs to work. Demonstrators insisted they only abandoned administrative and other tasks, not medical duties.

The CJN asked Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé’s office if such a walkout should be sanctioned, given the waiting lists and backlogs in the province’s healthcare system.

Spokesperson Marie-Claude Lacasse told The CJN the ministry had no comment. “It’s the Collège des médecins (CDM) ethics code that governs professional responsibilities and not the ministry.” The CDM was similarly mum, referring queries to individual establishments. Only one institution responded, the CHU Sainte-Justine children’s hospital stating, “in Quebec, doctors work in the health network as self-employed workers. This means that they have autonomy in the management of their activities and their professional commitments.”

Bibas was unimpressed. “As physicians, our foremost duty is to provide care and preserve life,” guided by ethical principles that prioritize patients. “It is deeply concerning to witness a call for boycotting Israeli medical institutions and universities—actions ultimately jeopardizing patient care locally and beyond.” He said the group was ignorant of vital contributions by Israeli medical institutions, “including an unwavering commitment to humanitarian aid such as Israel facilitating the polio vaccination of over 1 million children in Gaza over the past year.”

A Jewish staffer at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal also speaking on condition of anonymity saw the protest on her way to work, telling The CJN she was “disgusted. We’re working endless hours to keep the system going, dealing with all kinds of shit, and our schedules are locked down. These people claim to do something noble? Why not on a day off? I haven’t heard a single word from any of these types after Oct. 7 other than about Israel’s ‘so-called ‘genocide’. That tells you what they are really all about.”

Haddad says it’s too late for France “and Quebec could get worse if we don’t act.” He has a prescription for that: “Get involved in politics at provincial, federal and municipal levels, explain our situation, make sure laws are enforced. We’re not asking to reinvent the wheel. Multiculturalism can be beautiful but if it’s not working, remake it. I won’t tear my shirt over the model,” he said, in regard to the province’s Jan. 30 announcement that it will completely revamp its model of integrating newcomers to Quebec, with increasing focus on secularism, equality between sexes, and adherence to common values.

In a parliamentary brief last year, the Canadian Federation of Jewish Medical Associations (CFJMA) with more than 2,000 members, said there are non-Jews in Canadian medical faculties “who do not hate Jews and who do not want harm to come to Jews, and there are even a few who are actively working to learn more about antisemitism in order to be better allies to Jews.”

CFJMA’s provincial member organizations however, report increasing numbers of people working in faculties and institutions that govern and accredit medical training “who do not believe that Jews are worthy of equity, equality, or even basic human rights. It is also our experience that the most vocal of those faculty members are active in promoting equity and human rights for other groups, sometimes as individual advocates but often as leaders or as educators in the EDI space.” They added, “this issue of open antisemitism in anti-oppression circles” has grown steadily in North America over the past 10 to 20 years.

The post Quebec Jewish Physicians Association members unite to fight antisemitism in the medical system appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.

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Antisemitism Skyrockets in 7 Countries With Largest Jewish Populations, Global Report Finds

Norwegian student Marie Andersen carries an antisemitic sign at an Oct. 21, 2023, pro-Hamas demonstration in Warsaw, Poland. Photo: Screenshot

The seven largest Jewish communities outside Israel have reported record spikes in antisemitic activity in recent years, largely driven by a wave of anti-Jewish hatred in the aftermath of Hamas launching its war against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to a new report released to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Holocaust.

On Wednesday, the J7 Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism — a coalition of Jewish organizations in Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States — released its first J7 Annual Report on Antisemitism on the eve of Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, when Nazi Germany formally surrendered to Allied forces on May 8.

Affirming the findings of other recent research, the report described how from 2021 through 2023, antisemitic incidents increased 11 percent in Australia, 23 percent in Argentina, 75 percent in Germany, 82 percent in the UK, 83 percent in Canada, 185 percent in France, and 227 percent in the US. The data also showed a jump on a per-capita basis, noting that Germany saw more than 38 incidents per 1,000 Jews while the UK saw 13 per 1,000.

Common trends the seven communities identified included jumps in violent incidents, repeated targeting of Jewish institutions, rising online hate speech, and increasing fear among Jews, often prompting them to hide their Jewish identity.

The number of antisemitic outrages in all seven countries spiked to record levels following Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.

Different organizations from each of the seven countries authored the various sections of the report highlighting the surge in anti-Jewish animus.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews wrote the section on the UK, outlining the findings of the Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters. CST recorded 3,528 antisemitic incidents for 2024, the country’s second worst year for antisemitism and an 18 percent drop from 2023’s record of 4,296. These incidents included 201 physical assaults, 157 instances of damage to Jewish property, and 250 direct threats.

The report also noted that polling suggested that “approximately 6.7 million people in the UK ‘harbor elevated levels of antisemitic attitudes,’ roughly the population of London, the UK’s capital and most populated city.” The group also expressed concern for “an increase in AI-generated deepfakes depicting Jewish individuals using harmful stereotypes and embedding hate symbols in otherwise innocuous images.”

“We must insist on zero tolerance of antisemitism and ensure that this message gets through to lawmakers wherever we live,” said Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies.”

For Canada’s section, the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) provided the information and analysis. The group reported that the Jewish community “was easily the most targeted religious minority, accounting for some 70 percent of religiously motivated hate crimes (with 900 total hate crimes against Jews recorded). Hate crimes against Jews increased by 71 percent from 2022 to 2023, and 172 percent in total since 2020.”

Toronto’s police also counted 164 hate crimes targeting Jews as of October 2024, a 74.5 percent jump from 2023’s statistics.

CIJA also pointed to the increase in antisemitic attitudes among some groups, notably college students (with 26 percent holding some antisemitic views) and Muslims (52 percent). Additional polling showed these numbers reflected in the feelings of Canadian Jews, 98 percent of whom say that antisemitism is a serious or somewhat serious problem and 82 percent who say the country has grown less safe for Jews following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel.

“Since Oct. 7, Canada has experienced a wave of antisemitic attacks — with Jewish schools shot at, synagogues firebombed, Jewish-owned businesses vandalized, and neighborhoods targeted,” CIJA Interim President Noah Shack said in a statement. “In the wake of last week’s federal election, we have a clear expectation that the next Parliament will move urgently to advance serious and impactful solutions to combat hate and protect Jewish Canadians. What is at stake is not only the safety and well-being of our community, but the future of a Canada where everyone can live free from fear and discrimination.”

The report’s section on France, contributed by the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), said that “Palestine” appeared in 30 percent of last year’s antisemitic acts in the country. Schools also saw a surge of incidents, jumping to 1,670 in the 2023-2024 school year, compared to 400 the previous year. Specific hate crimes spotlighted in the report included the assault and rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl, whose attackers cited her “bad words on Palestine” to justify their cruelty.

A November 2024 CRIF study examining the antisemitic attitudes of the public found that 46 percent of the French people believed at least six antisemitic stereotypes. CRIF stated in the report that “in France, the extreme left instrumentalizes antisemitism as a political tool, while the extreme right instrumentalizes the fight against antisemitism as a political tool.”

“What we are witnessing is not just a statistical increase, it is a societal warning sign,” said CRIF president Yonathan Arfi. “This is not a crisis for the Jewish community, it is a test for our democracies. The escalation in hate speech, threats, and physical assaults against Jews around the world reminds us why international cooperation, like that of the J7, is more vital than ever.”

The Central Council of Jews in Germany provided the facts and analysis for their nation. While the government had not yet released 2024 hate crime statistics, the group said that “there were also more than 5,000 crimes reported by the German police in connection with the Israel-Hamas war that were not labeled as motivated by antisemitism.” The group pointed to a January 2025 study which showed that approximately 40 percent of 18-to-29-year-old Germans did not know that the Nazis exterminated 6 million Jews.

“Oct. 7, 2023, has massively accelerated a development that was already looming. Jews in Germany are under threat. A front has formed, cutting across the left and right, from Islamists to the very center of society,” Dr. Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said in a statement. “This coalition questions the self-evidence of today’s Jewish life as well as Germany’s culture of remembrance. These developments are overlapping and mutually influencing online and offline. We are seeing similar developments in all the J7 countries, and I am glad that this strong task force exists.”

The Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA) explained the situation for Jews in Argentina, where the 2024 hate crime figures had also not yet appeared. The group pointed to the Anti-Defamation League’s 2024 Global 100: Index of Antisemitism, which showed that 39 percent of Argentinians (12.8 million) embraced six or more stereotypes about Jews and that 60 percent believed a small group controlled the world.

DAIA also described how “the political landscape in Argentina shifted significantly with the election of President Javier Milei at the end of 2023. His administration’s alignment with the United States and support for Israel has resulted in an increase in antisemitic and other conspiratorial rhetoric, which has become intertwined with broader geopolitical narratives.”

DAIA’s president, Mauro Berenstein, said in a statement that “in Argentina, we see with concern the exponential rise of antisemitism, in educational, academic, and professional settings, where many people, under the guise of critical thinking or a just cause, reproduce age-old prejudices. Social media has amplified these narratives. What was once whispered now goes viral in seconds. Therefore, more than ever, memory and education are not just tools of the past: they are a duty of the present and a hope for the future.”

In Australia, 64 percent of Jews called antisemitism “very much” a big problem in the country, a tenfold increase since 2017.

“This report presents the most comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of antisemitism in the western world since Oct. 7,” saidm Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. “All of our communities have been afflicted by this, but the situation in Australia presents a particularly staggering depiction of how healthy multicultural societies can be captured by networks of extremists who succeed in fundamentally altering relations between Jews and non-Jews and causing the Jewish community to question its future in a country where its roots are deep and its contributions have been profound.”

Ryvchin said that his country’s recent experience showed that “when antisemitism is not met with sufficient force of policing, law, and political leadership, it can escalate into devastating violence and can attract the most vicious elements of society ranging from religious and ideological fanatics to organized crime. The importance and value of this report is a testament to the work of the ADL [Anti-Defamation League] in convening the J7 and the outstanding cooperation between its member communities.”

As for the US, the ADL and Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations wrote the section, which noted an “alarming rise” in antisemitic incidents. Last month, the ADL released its own report revealing antisemitism in the US surged to break “all previous annual records” in 2024, recording 9,354 antisemitic incidents.

“Eighty years after the end of World War II, Jewish leaders from across the world have come together to reaffirm a simple truth: that we will never allow hatred to define our future,” said Betsy Berns-Korn, chair-elect of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “Rooted in memory, guided by justice, and strengthened by unity, we reaffirm our commitment to securing a safer and more inclusive world for generations to come.  This inaugural report reflects the strength of our collective voice and unwavering resolve.”

The post Antisemitism Skyrockets in 7 Countries With Largest Jewish Populations, Global Report Finds first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Eurovision Director Dismisses Pressure by Former Contestants to Ban Israel From Song Contest

Logos of the Eurovision Song Contest are seen in front of the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, May 1, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

The director of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest is ignoring pressure by dozens of former contestants to have the international competition ban Israel because of its military actions in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war.

Martin Green said in a statement to the British publication Metro on Tuesday that the Eurovision Song Contest “promotes connections, diversity, and inclusion through music.”

“We all aspire to keep the Eurovision Song Contest positive and inclusive and aspire to show the world as it could be, rather than how it necessarily is,” he added. “The EBU remains aligned with other international organizations that have similarly maintained their inclusive stance towards Israeli participants in major competitions at this time.”

Israel’s national broadcaster, Kan, is a member of the Eurovision Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the song contest. Yuval Raphael will represent Israel in this year’s competition with the heartfelt ballad “New Day Will Rise.” The contest will take place this year in Basel, Switzerland, and Raphael – a survivor of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel – will perform in the second semi-final on May 15. If she advances, she will compete in the grand final on May 17. Switzerland will host the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time since 1989.

More than 70 former contestants of the Eurovision Song Contest demanded in an open letter on Monday that Kan be banned from the competition this year, claiming that the broadcaster is “complicit in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the decades-long regime of apartheid and military occupation against the entire Palestinian people.” The open letter was signed by singers, songwriters, musicians, lyricists, and others from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, France, Iceland, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Turkey. The national broadcasters in Iceland, Slovenia, and Spain have also criticized the EBU’s decision to allow Israel to participate in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest.

Green’s comments defending Israel’s participation in this year’s competition echo similar sentiments recently expressed by an EBU spokesperson. Speaking to HuffPost UK, the EBU representative said the independent media organization makes decisions about the Eurovision based on rules of the song contest, and Kan’s application to join “met all the competition rules.” The spokesperson further noted that the EBU “remains aligned with other international organizations that have similarly maintained their inclusive stance towards Israeli participants in major competitions at this time.”

“The EBU is an association of public service broadcasters who are all eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest every year,” the spokesperson added. “We are not immune to global events but, together, it is our role to ensure the contest remains – at its heart – a universal event that promotes connections, diversity and inclusion through music.”

Israel’s participation in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, was also highly criticized because of the Israel-Hamas war. Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets of Malmo to protest Israel’s involvement and Israel’s representative, Eden Golan, experienced intense backlash during the competition, including death threats and boos from audience members. One Eurovision jury member even admitted that he refused to give Golan a single point merely because of his own anti-Israel views. Singers who participated in the contest last year also faced pressure to pull out of the event because of Israel’s involvement.

At the time, Jean Philip de Tender — the deputy director-general of the EBU – said the Eurovision contest is “a music event, which is organized and co-produced by 37 public broadcasters, so it’s not a competition between nations or governments.” He noted that Eurovision does not make decisions based on politics and if the EBU would ban Kan because of something other than competition rules, “that would have been a political decision.”

The post Eurovision Director Dismisses Pressure by Former Contestants to Ban Israel From Song Contest first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Netherlands to Oppose Extension of EU-Israel Cooperation Deal Over Gaza Concerns

Netherlands Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp addresses a press conference, in New Delhi on April 1, 2025. Photo: ANI Photo/Sanjay Sharma via Reuters Connect

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp revealed on Wednesday that the Netherlands would oppose any extension of the EU-Israel Action Plan, which aims to implement an agreement that provides the basis for political and economic cooperation between the two sides, without a formal review first, citing concerns over the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

In a letter to the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, the Dutch top diplomat accused Israel of breaching the 2000 EU-Israel Association Agreement, which stipulates that ties between the Jewish state and the 27-member bloc must be “based on respect for human rights and democratic principles.”

“The situation in the Gaza Strip is rapidly deteriorating — it is dramatic, catastrophic,” Veldkamp told the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. “Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid is in violation of the laws of war.”

Israel has vehemently denied such claims and accusations, noting that, until its recently imposed blockade, it had provided significant humanitarian aid into the enclave throughout the war. Israeli officials have also said much of the aid that flows into Gaza is stolen by Hamas, which uses it for terrorist operations and sells the rest at high prices to Gazan civilians.

“Meanwhile, the [Israeli] War Cabinet is announcing a reoccupation of Gaza. Taken together, this is reason to draw a line in the sand,” the top Dutch diplomat continued, referring to Israel’s expanded offensive against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which may involve seizing control of the Gaza Strip and overseeing aid distribution.

In his letter, Veldkamp also argued that Israel’s newly proposed system for aid distribution, designed to bypass Hamas, seemed inconsistent with the “principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence.”

Veldkamp, a former ambassador to Israel, informed Kallas that the Netherlands would block European cooperation with Jerusalem until these alleged human rights abuses are thoroughly investigated. He also mentioned that he would bring up these issues during the upcoming two-day EU meeting in Poland.

Israeli officials argue they have gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, despite Hamas’s widely acknowledged military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.

The EU-Israel Action Plan, which requires unanimous approval from all EU foreign ministers, underpins cooperation in areas such as climate policy, policing, scientific research, and global poverty relief.

On Wednesday, far-right politician Geert Wilders — whose Party for Freedom is part of the Dutch government — criticized Veldkamp, calling him a “weak minister who sides with anti-Israel protesters” in a post on X.

Earlier this week, Wilders announced he met with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Defense Minister Israel Katz, assuring them of “the support of millions of our people” for the war against “Islamic terror, whether from Hamas, Iran, or the Houthis.”

Last month, Veldkamp requested a meeting with Israeli Ambassador Modi Ephraim to raise concerns over Israel’s expanding ground operations in the war-torn enclave.

“At my request, the Israeli ambassador was summoned this morning to provide clarification on the worrying developments in the Gaza Strip, including the attack on the aid convoy,” the top Dutch diplomat said at the time, referring to a March incident in which several aid workers were reportedly killed along with six Hamas terrorist traveling in a convoy of Palestinian ambulances.

During the meeting, Ephraim “emphasized the expectation that the Netherlands, as a friend of Israel, will support our efforts to dismantle the Hamas threat in Gaza — a terrorist organization that uses civilians as human shields,” the Israeli Embassy said in a statement.

The post Netherlands to Oppose Extension of EU-Israel Cooperation Deal Over Gaza Concerns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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