The Dutch Government declared in an official statement today that it was “concerned” by the Israeli bombardment of the Iraqi nuclear plant Sunday, declaring that action “can only contribute to the increase of tension in the Middle East,” and that it therefore “strongly condemns” the raid.
Earlier the Dutch Foreign Minister, Christoph Van Der Klaauw, who is currently on a visit to the five Arab countries of the Persian Gulf area on a fact-finding mission as current chairman of the European Foreign Ministers Council, strongly assailed the raid, in a speech in Abu Dhabi. He called the attack “irresponsible and dangerous.”
He also said he had asked the ten members of the European Economic Community (EEC) to issue a joint communique condemning the raid. He said it was now in preparation.
Most Dutch newspapers joined in the criticism and asserted editorially that in the long run it might be “counter-productive” for Israel and “increasingly” isolated Israel from the rest of the world. Some newspapers said that the main reason Premier Menachem Begin ordered the Sunday attack was to win electoral support in the June 30 election.
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