The Jewish Council 2026 – The Red Line demonstrations in the Netherlands and the prominent support of left-wing Jewish (former) politicians
The Netherlands has now seen four mass protest movements. The country that, during the Second World War, already stood out for having one of the highest percentages of deported and murdered Jews. The overwhelming majority of the Dutch Jewish population was deported and murdered within the first three years of the war. By the war's end, the Netherlands ranked first in Western Europe, with nearly 75% of its Jewish population deported during the occupation. Only Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania, all with substantial Jewish populations, recorded higher percentages.
The German occupiers were more than pleased with the Dutch situation. Unlike in many other countries, they often did not have to carry out the arrests and deportations themselves. Dutch authorities and collaborators largely did that work for them. They were assisted by the Jewish Councils established by the Nazis. There were several Jewish Councils, including one in Enschede, which reportedly saved far more Jews than its counterpart in Amsterdam. However, because the vast majority of Dutch Jews lived in Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Jewish Council ultimately left the most significant mark on that period.
After the war, the Netherlands managed to conceal much of its underlying mindset. In particular, the socialist Labour Party (PvdA) included a considerable number of prominent Jewish figures and became known for its support of Israel's then largely socialist leadership under figures such as Golda Meir.
Labour Party Minister Henk Vredeling and Prime Minister Joop den Uyl even supplied weapons to Israel in secret. The Netherlands, after all, had much to atone for, and the national sense of guilt ran deep. Moreover, a left-wing ideological government and what was perceived as an oppressed people naturally appealed to socialists. Such causes have traditionally attracted their support.
As the Palestinians, through the PLO under Yasser Arafat, repeatedly rejected peace agreements that could have led to statehood, and as the conflict evolved into periods of Intifada, while Israel increasingly elected right-wing Likud governments, beginning with Menachem Begin in 1977, followed by Yitzhak Shamir and, over the past two decades, Benjamin Netanyahu, the political left became increasingly skeptical of Israel.
During the Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein launched Scud missiles at Israel, the Netherlands dutifully supplied defensive weapons such as the Patriot missile system. Defense, after all, was considered acceptable. Offensive action was not.
Begin made peace with Egypt, Rabin with Jordan, and Netanyahu concluded the Abraham Accords with several Islamic countries.
As Palestinian terrorism intensified, Israel began constructing border fences and security barriers. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered all Jews to leave Gaza. This policy was not intended to imprison Palestinians, but rather to protect Israelis and Jewish communities from attacks originating outside Israel. For the first time in thousands of years, Gaza became entirely free of Jews. Israeli policies were repeatedly enacted in response to attacks by Palestinians. Yet increasingly, Dutch media portrayed these measures as forms of "apartheid."
In 2006, Hamas was elected by an overwhelming majority in Gaza. From that moment onward, rocket attacks against Israel expanded dramatically. Israel retaliated, usually after issuing warnings to Gaza's civilian population, targeting launch sites that Hamas had often embedded in schools and residential buildings. During the same period, Israel developed the Iron Dome missile defense system and came to feel relatively secure despite attacks that continued for more than eighteen years.
Then came October 7, 2023
A day that virtually no one in Israel saw coming, apart from a handful of young female border observers whose concerns were allegedly not taken seriously.
The brutal assault by Iran's regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and later Iran itself together with the Houthis in Yemen, appeared to confirm what Netanyahu had been warning about for years and what Iran itself often boasted about: a "ring of fire" around Israel. Approximately 1,200 innocent people were raped, abducted, and murdered in exceptionally brutal circumstances. A resistance movement attacks military targets. A terrorist movement attacks civilians.
After October 7, 2023, public perception shifted dramatically. Israel increasingly came to be viewed as a colonial power, an apartheid state, and the aggressor, while Gaza was characterized as an open-air prison.
A noteworthy fact is that Egypt has kept its border with Gaza tightly closed for years, apart from smuggling activities, including weapons. This is despite Gaza once having been part of Egypt and despite its population being culturally and ethnically very similar to Egyptians. Since October 7, Egypt has reinforced the border even further. As a result, most goods entering Gaza come through Israel rather than through neighboring Egypt.
Now back to the present day and the Red Line demonstrations
As described above, left-wing politicians have traditionally been drawn to perceived victims, and the Palestinian cause fits that framework well. The argument often made by critics is that the Palestinians have repeatedly missed opportunities for statehood, peace, and improved living conditions over more than seventy years. They also point out that Palestinians are unique in that refugee status is passed down through generations, resulting in people today being considered fifth-generation refugees.
In many Arab countries, these refugees enjoy few permanent rights. Western governments, through UNRWA and national budgets, therefore spend billions supporting them. These are people who often live in permanent urban housing similar to that of many other Arabs in the region. Yet, in the imagination of much of the Dutch left, refugee camps are often pictured as tent settlements in desert conditions. The tent camps that do exist today frequently suffer from serious flooding problems, partly because infrastructure such as sewage pipes installed by Israel was repurposed by Hamas for military use, including rocket construction.
According to critics, the humanitarian industry has become deeply invested in the Palestinian issue. Left-leaning mainstream media and NGOs focus extensively on Palestinian suffering, which generates funding, employment, and public attention. There is also an undeniable social reward attached to occupying what is perceived as the morally superior position.
The Netherlands has now reached a point where it has again become a leading nation, becoming the first government in Europe to impose economic sanctions on Israel. Products originating from the Golan Heights and the West Bank have been banned. Critics note that many Gazans previously worked on farms in those regions. Under traditional interpretations of international wartime law, territorial outcomes of defensive wars have long been debated. Yet, critics argue that Israel is treated differently from other nations in this regard.
All four Red Line demonstrations have been among the largest protests held in the Netherlands in recent decades. Only the anti-nuclear missile demonstrations of the early 1980s were larger.
Dutch MP Mona Keijzer summarized the situation following the fourth major demonstration in Amsterdam on November 8, 2026: "You can hardly follow the news without seeing wars everywhere, yet they seem completely obsessed with Gaza."
Indeed, critics point out that there have been no comparable mass demonstrations regarding Morocco's occupation of Western Sahara, Turkey's occupation of part of EU-member Cyprus, China's treatment of the Uyghurs, the massacres of Christians in Nigeria, or the persecution of Christians in Sudan. In several of those conflicts, the civilian death toll is measured in the hundreds of thousands.
On June 21, 2025, the Labour Party (PvdA) effectively aligned itself with the far-left GroenLinks movement. During a party congress, a motion was adopted stating that the Netherlands should no longer supply even defensive weapons to Israel.
And if you think it could not become more extreme?
On Sunday, November 8, 2026, left-wing Jewish activists marched at the forefront of the demonstration, led by prominent Labour figure and Jewish politician Job Cohen. They demanded an end to what they describe as the "genocide" in Gaza. One might assume this would imply opposition to Hamas, but in their view Israel is the primary culprit.
Jewish politicians such as Job Cohen, Hedy d'Ancona, and Lodewijk Asscher have not resigned their membership of the Labour Party, now operating under the PRO banner. On the contrary, they remain committed members.
These left-wing Jewish figures live in the affluent and secure Amsterdam canal district, yet advocate policies that, according to critics, would leave Israeli Jews more vulnerable by restricting access to defensive weapons.
The Jewish Council 2026: I take care of myself; the rest I hand over.
According to the author, it is extraordinary that demonstrations organized by groups they characterize as extremist NGOs and organizations with a history of neglecting Israeli victims should attract Jewish supporters at all.
Perhaps, for Cohen and his peers, it provides a sense of moral validation. Moral superiority comes at a price, but for them it is apparently worth paying.
What the author describes as the "Gazalighting" of the political left, and increasingly of the political center as well, is about to enter yet another year. Image Credits: Photo by Diogo Nunes via Unsplash
