Every Thursday, a group of Dutch civil servants sacrifices its lunch break to gather in front of the Foreign Ministry to protest the Netherlands’ stance on Israel. Civil servants are meant to follow through on elected politicians’ instructions — and thus rarely openly criticize political leaders.

But this time, they don’t have much of a choice. As government officials, they have pledged an oath to the constitution — a document that clearly states that the Netherlands “promotes the international legal order.” Thus, many civil servants reason, it’s their duty to resist the government’s pro-Israel line.

Yet promoting the international legal order is not the Dutch government’s objective. In response to the Hamas-led attacks last October 7, Prime Minister Mark Rutte immediately declared “unconditional support” for Israel and “its right to defend itself.” Many critics pointed out that this basically gave carte blanche to Israel’s response. But Rutte was long unwilling to call for restraint.