Thousands gather in Amsterdam for fourth Red Line rally against Israel's Gaza war
Demonstrators demand end to Dutch purchases of Israeli weapons and sanctions over war crimes, prime minister Rob Jetten who marched as D66 leader now finds attending inappropriate
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Demonstrators on the Museumplein in Amsterdam. Photo: Sem van der Wal/ANP
Sem van der Wal/ANP
Thousands of protesters are gathering on Amsterdam's Museumplein for the Netherlands' fourth Red Line rally against Israel's war in Gaza, with speeches from 1pm and a march through Amsterdam Zuid and Oud-West to follow until 4pm. The marchers have two demands of the Dutch government: stop buying Israeli weapons, and impose sanctions on Israel for war crimes.
The demonstration is organised by The Rights Forum together with 13 other groups, among them Amnesty International, PAX and Oxfam Novib. Turnout has grown at every rally by organisers' estimates — 100,000 in The Hague in May 2025, 150,000 in June, and 250,000 at the last Amsterdam march in October. The authorities are laying on transport for the occasion: NS is running longer trains to Amsterdam, the metro has added capacity, and trams and buses around Museumplein are being diverted for the afternoon.
The speaker list has drawn criticism. Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the BDS boycott movement, and Medhat Alamawi of the Palestinian Community Netherlands have been accused of links to Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups. Edwin van 't Pad of The Rights Forum dismissed the complaints to news site de Kanttekening: "Even if we had put the pope on stage, the right would have accused us of antisemitism and Hamas sympathies."
Prime Minister Rob Jetten walked in a Red Line march when he led the D66 party. On Friday he told his weekly press conference he would not attend this one, saying it would be inappropriate now that he is prime minister.
The demands are addressed to a state that hosts the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and that court is itself under pressure. In July, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed to dismantle the ICC "brick by brick, if necessary", partly in response to its investigation of Israeli officials. The marchers want their government to act on war crimes through institutions the United States is pledged to dismantle.
Organisers counted 250,000 people at the last Amsterdam rally in October. The prime minister who once marched with them will not be there this time.