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“D66 leader and finance minister Sigrid Kaag has decided to bow out of politics after the next general election, citing the negative impact of her job on her family.
Kaag, who joined D66 after a career with the UN, told Trouw in an interview on Wednesday that the many threats and online hate messages she receives have “taken a toll on the children”.
In particular, Kaag has been under attack from the far right, who have labelled her a “witch”, leading to demonstrators carrying torches turning up at her home and greeting her at meetings…”
https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/07/d66-leader-sigrid-kaag-to-quit-politics-citing-impact-on-family/
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Dutch foreign minister accused of supporting Hamas
Sigrid Kaag’s ministries are refusing to account for funds transferred to Palestinian NGOs, including those operating out of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
An official complaint against Kaag, who is known for her pro-Palestinian views, was filed by Dutch journalist Lukas Hartong, a former European Parliament lawmaker for the right-wing Party of Freedom under Geert Wilders.
Kaag, who is married to former senior Palestinian Authority official Dr. Anis al-Qaq, has served for the past three and a half years as the Netherland’s minister for foreign trade and development cooperation. Within the framework of that position, she has also been responsible for granting monetary aid to Palestinian organizations and the PA. Kaag still holds the foreign trade and development cooperation portfolio, in addition to now serving as her country’s foreign minister.
The Netherlands, via Kaag’s ministry, transferred aid money to a Palestinian NGO named the “Union of Agricultural Work Committee.” Several senior members of this NGO were involved in the murder of 17-year-old Rina Shnerb in August 2019. In the bombing attack, Shnerb’s father and brother were wounded. After evidence was provided of the NGO’s affiliations with the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Dutch government denied that it was transferring funds to the Union of Agricultural Work Committee. Ultimately, however, the Dutch government was forced to admit to funding the salaries of murderers.
With that, Kaag’s ministries still refuse to heed calls from Dutch lawmakers for transparent inspection of funds transferred to Palestinian NGOs, including those operating out of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
“Essentially, there is no information about where the money goes once it enters Gaza, where organizations tied to Hamas are more sophisticated in terms of concealing information and are less transparent toward Western money donors,” said Itai Reuveni of the Israeli watchdog group NGO Monitor.
Hartong based his complaint against the Dutch foreign minister on Article 421 of the Dutch Penal Code that “prohibits the intentional gathering, acquiring, holding or financing of objects that serve to give monetary support to terrorism,” and demanded that local police launch an investigation against her. According to Hartong, Dutch police have responded appropriately and were now awaiting Kaag’s response to the allegations.
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There’s much more:
https://www.haaretz.com › ty-article
AL-QAQ, ANIS (1947-)
Born in Silwan, Jerusalem, on 1 June 1947; received a BSc in Dentistry from the University of Baghdad, Iraq in 1971; returned and opened a private clinic in Jerusalem; continued his education in Buckinghamshire, UK, from 1982-84, specializing in oral surgery; served as Chairman of the Dental Association in the West Bank from 1985-90 and as head of the Professionals’ Union from 1986-90; Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Palestinian National Theater in Jerusalem from the late 1980s; Executive Member, Council for Higher Education from 1989; Pres. of the Palestinian-Swedish Friendship Society since 1989; Sec.-Gen. of the Health Services Council from 1989; Board Member of the International Coordinating Committee on the Question of Palestine (ICCP); member of the Coordinating Committee for NGOs on the Question of Palestine in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; member of the Palestinian Medical School Committee; became Deputy Assistant to the PA Minister of Planning and International Cooperation in 1996, later Undersecretary; President of the Center for Health Services in Jerusalem; Member of the Editorial Board of the Palestine-Israel Journal; Palestinian representative to Switzerland since 2004.
