Netherlands to reportedly issue new policy directives on settlement pension payments

The Netherlands has cancelled reported plans to cut the pension of a Dutch Holocaust survivor as a result of her residing in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, according to Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post.

Spokesman for the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment informed Jerusalem Post that although they will not be slashing her pension, the Netherlands will publish new policy directives on pension payments to citizens living in settlements.

The 90- year old woman had her pension reduced by nearly 35 percent after moving to live with her son in a West Bank settlement.

In early 2014, the Netherlands largest pension management company decided to withdraw its investments from Israeli banks because they had branches in the settlements. In late 2013, the Netherlands’ largest supplier of drinking water severed ties with Israeli national water company Mekorot because of the “political context” of Israel’s West Bank settlements.