Dutch authorities search passengers on Israeli flight for West Bank settlement goods: Report

Dutch authorities searched passengers arriving in Amsterdam on Israeli flag carrier El Al to check whether they were carrying products from West Bank settlements, Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 reported Sunday.

The broadcaster described the checks on passengers from Tel Aviv as unusual.

It said customs officers were looking for goods from settlements in the occupied West Bank or Golan Heights.

The report did not say whether any goods were found or whether action was taken against any passengers.

Channel 12 linked the searches to a Dutch ban on the import, purchase, and sale of goods from Israeli settlements that took effect last week.

The Dutch government’s published explanation says the measure applies to goods from settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and also prohibits services that facilitate such trade.

The Israeli broadcaster also claimed that bringing settlement products into the Netherlands could carry a prison sentence of up to six years.

There was no immediate comment from Dutch authorities on Channel 12’s report.

Meanwhile, Israel has given Dutch diplomats working in Ramallah seven days to return their Israeli-issued diplomatic documents, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Sunday, in response to the ban on trade in goods from Israeli settlements.

Sa’ar said the Dutch Embassy in Israel was informed of the decision on Sunday evening.

After the deadline, the diplomatic privileges and immunities Israel grants the diplomats will expire, he wrote on the US social media company X.

The Dutch measure followed an announcement on Sept. 14 by 12 countries—France, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden—that they intend to impose trade restrictions on Israeli settlements.

They also called on Israel to immediately halt settlement expansion and occupier violence.

Israel’s current government says that since taking office in late 2022, it has approved 104 new settlements, while 160 agricultural settlement outposts have been established in the West Bank.

The UN has repeatedly affirmed that Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law, warning that they undermine prospects for a two-state solution.