Dutch Parliament Member Tunahan Kuzu (L) refuses to shake hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
© ANP / AFPDutch Parliament Member Tunahan Kuzu (L) refuses to shake hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to the States General at the Binnenhof as part of Netanyahu's visit to the Netherlands at the Binnenhof, in the Hague, on September 7, 2016.
A Dutch politician has refused to shake the outstretched hand of Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on a visit to the Netherlands.

The awkward moment captured on camera shows Tunahan Kuzu standing alongside other politicians as Netanyahu approaches, before Kuzu snubs the Israeli leader.

Netanyahu is then seen shrugging in response and moving away.


Kuzu, who is a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights, has since justified his actions on Facebook, "the red carpet is rolled out" for Netanyahu while the bloodshed of Gaza had been forgotten, in reference to Israel's war in in the Gaza Strip two years ago.

"While the streets of Gaza were reddened by blood that splashed out of the veins of children in the summer of 2014, the red carpet is rolled here," Kuzu wrote. "That deserves no handshake, but a reference to #FreePalestine."

Kuzu was also wearing a badge bearing the Palestinian flag at the time of his encounter with the Israeli leader.

The Israeli PR machine moved swiftly to contain the embarrassment, as the snub appears to have been edited out of a video shared on YouTube by the Israeli PM's office - the handshake refusal was nowhere to be seen in the clip.