Residents of The Hague reacted to the resignation of Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra on Tuesday.
SOT, resident of the Hague (Dutch): “It had to of been a bar story. A narrative that fits into a frame that you want to create. But slowly turns on you like a boomerang. It’s extremely difficult if you are working in foreign affairs and are involved with the MH17 debate. It becomes this thing that gets attributed to his foreign police experience. Which he has of course. Then the trustworthiness of the Netherlands is questioned internationality, making things extremely difficult.”
SOT, resident of the Hague (Dutch): “That’s exactly the fact that caused him to have to resign. I completely support that. If the Netherlands wants to remain credible you can’t have people saying that your minister is lying about being at a location at a specific time. That’s not right. Especially not about that place and at that time.”
SOT, resident of the Hague (Dutch): “I think that he heard it from a trustworthy source during that time. Subsequently he decided not to give the name of the source to avoid damaging their credibility. That person is now throwing him in front of the bus, and I find that a lot worse.”
SOT, resident of the Hague (Dutch): “I think that that was said to warn for danger that could be on the horizon for our democracy. It then becomes something that lingers and is now being used to damage Halbe Zijlstra and the VVD right before the upcoming election. Of course, someone will say: ‘See, it’s the VVD again. They’re always messing things up.’ I would never again sacrifice myself for someone.”