ABSTRACT
In the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, between Egypt and Syria on one side and Israel on the other, the foundations were laid for what in 1974 became the Centre for Information and Documentation Israel (CIDI). The institution’s goal was to provide politicians in The Hague and the Dutch public with the most recent and appropriate ‘information and documentation’, especially about the Arab‐Israeli conflict. There was a fear that the Dutch government, which had chosen Israel’s side in 1973 and as a result had been punished with an oil boycott, might buckle. The CIDI wanted to keep the Netherlands firmly in the pro‐Israeli camp.
