Pro-Israel Campaign Challenges 200,000 Amsterdam Protesters With Hamas Massacre Images (Worthy News In-Depth)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

AMSTERDAM (Worthy News) – At least 200,000 people joined an anti-Israel demonstration in Amsterdam on Sunday, according to organizers, but their protest was challenged by a pro-Israel campaign confronting participants with images of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre.

Jewish sources told Worthy News that some 20,000 stickers were pasted overnight on advertising billboards and other public displays across the Dutch capital, although the figure could not be independently verified.

Photographs obtained by Worthy News showed large and small stickers featuring the Palestinian flag and the words “Where Does The Line End?” and “Show What You Stand For!”

The stickers contained QR codes directing smartphone users to a website asking, “Do you know who is marching alongside you today?”

Visitors encountered graphic images of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and hundreds taken hostage. The massacre was the deadliest single attack on Jews since the Holocaust, also known as the Shoah.

THE REAL RED LINE

Under the heading “The Real Red Line,” the website declared: “You wear red for peace. Do you also know who is marching alongside you today? This is Hamas. This is genocide. Stop the terror.”

Apparently intended to challenge demonstrators to distinguish their support for Palestinians from support for Hamas, the campaign’s organizers and financial backers were not immediately known.

Worthy News also obtained a photograph showing a small group displaying Israeli flags and a banner on Amsterdam’s Dam Square, near the National Monument commemorating victims of World War II and later conflicts.

Written in Dutch, the banner read: “We Stand Up For Our Jewish Fellow Citizens.”

Sources described the display to Worthy News as an expression of Christian solidarity with Israel and the Jewish community, intended to counter Sunday’s rally. “This was a very brave action,” a Jewish woman told Worthy News, requesting anonymity because of security concerns.

MASS PROTEST

Sunday’s fourth Red Line rally attracted at least 200,000 participants, according to Amnesty International, one of the organizers. Its preliminary estimate was based on crowd-monitoring software and aerial camera footage and could not be independently verified.

Thousands of people dressed in red gathered at Amsterdam’s Museumplein (Museum Square) before marching around nearby Vondelpark (Vondel Park), expressing solidarity with Palestinians and demanding stronger measures against Israel.

Museum Square was reportedly so crowded that some demonstrators struggled to leave for the march, which began shortly before 2 p.m.

Organizing groups included Amnesty International, Oxfam Novib and Save the Children.

An earlier demonstration in Amsterdam in October 2025 attracted an estimated 250,000 people, making it the Netherlands’ largest protest in two decades.

DUTCH GOVERNMENT PRESSURED

Before the Amsterdam rallies, two Red Line demonstrations in The Hague drew an estimated 100,000 and 150,000 participants respectively.

Organizers said Sunday’s turnout sent “a clear signal” to Prime Minister Rob Jetten’s government, accusing it of failing to take sufficient action over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and its policies in territories Palestinians claim for a future state.

“No money for genocide and occupation. Stop facilitating and financing it,” they declared.

Among the demonstrators were former Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen and former Dutch Foreign Minister Jozias van Aartsen, who said they were participating for the first time.

Both were among more than 200 former politicians, diplomats and civil servants who signed an open letter sent Friday to Jetten, urging stronger measures against Israel.

FORMER POLITICIANS JOIN

Speakers included former Dutch minister Lilianne Ploumen, Palestinian activist Omar Barghouti and journalist Amal Helles from Gaza.

Jetten, who attended an earlier demonstration before becoming prime minister, did not join Sunday’s march, saying his position had changed.

Sunday’s rally came amid continuing international controversy over Israel’s military operations in Gaza following the October 2023 attacks.

Israel maintains that its operations have been aimed at defeating Hamas and preventing further attacks, while critics accuse the Israeli government of disproportionate force and violations of international law.

Competing messages reflected divisions over Palestinian suffering, Israeli security concerns and the impact of the conflict on Jewish communities in Europe.

JEWISH COMMUNITY FEARS

Growing anxiety about antisemitism and the future of Jewish life in the Netherlands formed a backdrop to Sunday’s events.

Worthy News learned that a Holocaust survivor and a relative expressed deep concern and fear about what lies ahead for the Jewish community, recalling the country’s devastating history during World War II.

Their concerns follow the departure of Dutch Jewish singer Lenny Kuhr, 76, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1969 and arrived in Israel with her husband on November 2 after experiencing death threats, canceled performances and disruptions by pro-Palestinian activists.

“Jews can no longer live carefree lives here,” Kuhr said in a farewell message about the Netherlands. Her children and grandchildren already live in Israel.

Before World War II, the Netherlands was home to approximately 140,000 Jews, compared with an estimated core Jewish population of about 35,000 today. More than 100,000 Dutch Jews were murdered during the Nazi occupation, including Anne Frank, whose diary became a worldwide symbol of the Holocaust.

Supporters of Israel have also expressed concern that the October 7 massacre and the plight of Israeli hostages have received insufficient attention during pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Against this historical backdrop, the fears expressed by Jewish residents underscored the continuing impact of the Middle East armed conflict on a community still suffering the wounds of the Holocaust.