The reporter followed up, saying: “That is a very serious consequence.”
Timmermans appeared to agree.
“Yes, but what is the serious consequence for the innocent people in Iran, where a hospital has also been hit, for the people in Gaza, where dozens of victims are again to be mourned in the past 24 hours? For the people in Lebanon who are also suffering from rocket attacks,” he said.
“Ultimately, in a democracy, the citizens are responsible for the actions of the government” he added.
Timmermans is hoping to become Prime Minister in the upcoming Dutch elections.
His Labour-Green-Left alliance had backed a motion calling for a total arms embargo on Israel, including a specific ban on the export of Dutch components used in the Iron Dome air defence system. The motion was ultimately voted down.
The Netherlands will hold elections on October 29, after the far-right leader of the Party for Freedom Geert Wilders, resigned from the government’s coalition earlier this month, collapsing the government less than a year after it took power.
The vote is expected to be closely contested between Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV), the centre-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and the Labour-Green-Left alliance (PvdA-GL) led by Timmermans.
