Thousands Brave Rain For Pro-Israel Rally In Amsterdam; 13 Protesters Arrested

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (Worthy News) – Thousands of people, many of them Christians, braved the rain at Amsterdam’s central Dam Square for a pro-Israel rally, while police arrested more than a dozen pro-Palestinian protesters who attempted to disrupt the gathering.

This week’s evening rally in the Dutch capital, organized by Op de Bres voor Israel (“Standing Up for Israel”), was held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. local time in support of Israel and against antisemitism.

Speakers included Chris Stoffer, leader of the Reformed Political Party (SGP), and Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, who addressed the crowd late Wednesday as participants waved Israeli flags.
Singing was also part of the gathering, which concluded with a massive Israeli flag being stretched over the crowd.

Amsterdam Palestine Coalition had announced plans to hold a counterdemonstration on Dam Square, but municipal authorities moved it to the nearby Oude Turfmarkt (“Old Peat Market”), citing the risk of public disorder.

DEFYING RESTRICTIONS

After the group challenged the decision in court, a judge upheld the restrictions, saying authorities had sufficiently demonstrated there were concrete indications that disturbances could occur.

Despite the ruling, dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on and around Dam Square. Several scuffles and shouting matches broke out, with police intervening to separate opposing groups.

Pro-Palestinian protesters were heard shouting slogans including “Free Palestine” and “F… you Israel,” while two counterprotesters reportedly displayed a banner reading “We support Hamas.”

During the rally, activists unfurled a massive Palestinian flag from a building overlooking Dam Square and threw flyers from a balcony bearing the words “Palestinian and non-Palestinian, united in struggle!”

The flag prompted an angry reaction from some pro-Israel demonstrators, and further scuffles broke out beneath the balcony before police intervened. The Palestinian flag was subsequently pulled down.

PROTESTERS FACE ARRESTS

Police eventually surrounded a group of about 45 counterprotesters near the National Monument and removed them from the square in a GVB public transport bus. They were later released.

Authorities said 13 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested during the protest actions for alleged offenses including disrupting the pro-Israel demonstration and public violence.

Earlier in the evening, pro-Palestinian protesters were also detained inside an H&M store on Dam Square following the Palestinian-flag action.

At around 9 p.m., emergency services were dispatched to the Oude Turfmarkt following a report that someone required resuscitation. A police spokesperson said a demonstrator had “faked a heart attack,” and the emergency ultimately proved to be a false alarm.

The rally came amid mounting concern within the Netherlands’ Jewish community about antisemitism, with Chief Rabbi Jacobs saying an increasing number of Dutch Jews have been considering moving to Israel.

JEWS CONSIDER LEAVING

Jacobs has said he receives questions about aliyah — Jewish immigration to Israel — much more frequently than before, although he stressed that considering such a move does not necessarily mean people will leave.

Dutch singer Lenny Kuhr, who won the Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands in 1969, is among prominent Jewish citizens who have decided to move to Israel.

Kuhr and her husband, Rob Frank, plan to emigrate to Israel after she ended a performing career spanning nearly six decades. Kuhr has cited increasing antisemitism among the reasons for her decision, saying the climate in the Netherlands was no longer good for Jewish people. Her daughters and grandchildren already live in Israel.

Kuhr had performed under security protection following antisemitic incidents. In March 2024, pro-Palestinian activists disrupted one of her concerts in Waalwijk.

The Center for Information and Documentation Israel (CIDI), which monitors antisemitism in the Netherlands, registered 281 antisemitic incidents in 2025. The Netherlands is now home to an estimated 30,000 Jews, compared with about 140,000 before World War Two, when roughly 102,000 Dutch Jews were murdered in the Holocaust also known as the Shoah.

ANTISEMITISM REMAINS HIGH

The 2025 figure was down from 421 incidents in 2024 and 379 in 2023, but CIDI said the level remained significantly higher than during the decade preceding the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023.

CIDI has also warned of growing “reporting fatigue” within the Jewish community, saying some people experiencing antisemitism no longer report incidents because they believe little will be done or fear that reporting could escalate their situation.

The Amsterdam gathering also came amid an increasingly polarized Dutch debate over Israel and the Palestinian territories, including controversy surrounding a new government ban on goods originating from Israeli settlements in territories that the Netherlands considers unlawfully occupied.

Starting September 22, the Netherlands will prohibit the import, purchase and sale of goods originating from those settlements, as well as services facilitating such trade and attempts to circumvent the restrictions.

The Dutch government says the measure is intended to prevent the Netherlands from contributing economically to settlements it considers unlawful under international law. The measure does not halt broader trade with Israel within its internationally recognized pre-1967 borders, according to Dutch authorities.