Eindhoven City Council adopted a citizen motion on Tuesday in which it speaks out against human rights violations and war crimes in Gaza.
This makes Eindhoven the first city in the Netherlands to formally speak out against the violence – which was certainly the order of the day in the Palestinian territory until the ceasefire on 19 January.
In order to denounce the war violence, activists from Eindhoven4Palestine submitted a citizen motion in early February. This had already been discussed at a discussion evening, and was put to the vote on Tuesday evening, with a significant majority voting in favour of the motion (25 in favour, 16 against).
For PvdA (labour party) councillor Tjeerd Ritmeester, the motion was a struggle. He was the only one in his party to vote against it. “Within the party, everyone makes their own personal assessment. The fact that I voted against it does not mean that I am against everything in the motion”, the councillor said. “If people want to speak out, there is always room for that in Eindhoven. I think that the way this motion was drawn up and the organisation behind it will lead to a lot of polarisation”, Ritmeester continued.
“We are in favour of protecting human rights and international law, everywhere in the world and certainly also in Gaza”, SP (socialist party) councillor Jannie Visscher said.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
