On Sunday, October 5th, GroenLinks/PvdA (GreenLeft/Labour Party) parliamentarians–including party leader Frans Timmermans–did not attend the commemoration of the October 7th Hamas-led terrorist attack in the Dutch national assembly, despite being invited.
Keren Hirsch, a former PvdA member born in Jerusalem, criticized the party on X, saying that “the hostages, their families, and sometimes the bereaved mean nothing to them. Human decency turns out not to exist.” Hirsch had previously left the merged GroenLinks/PvdA party after disagreeing with its stance on Israel, specifically the decision to stop supplying materials used in the development of defensive weapons.
Later that day, approximately 250,000 people participated in the Red Line pro-Hamas protest, according to organizers. The demonstration, intended to draw attention to Gaza, was overshadowed by pro-Hamas symbols and conspiracy theories. A member of the Dutch Communist Committee displayed a sign reading, “Honor the martyrs, long live the resistance,” alongside a photo of a Hamas terrorist. The Central Institute for Discrimination and International Human Rights (CIDI) condemned the glorification of Hamas.
GroenLinks/PvdA Member of Parliament Tom van der Lee later clarified that he had intended to attend the commemoration and shared his invitation as a proof–which was later revealed to be for last year’s commemoration.
