Mayor of The Hague rejects request to fly Israeli flag at city hall

The mayor of The Hague, Jan van Zanen, has not complied with the demand of some parties in the city council to raise the Israeli flag at the city hall. According to van Zanen's spokesperson, this is "not appropriate" at the moment.

"The situation in Israel is still so unclear so soon after the violence that it is not appropriate to raise the flag," he said. “The Hague supports the statements made by outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot on Saturday," the spokesman said.

The request was made by the parties PVV, Hart voor Den Haag/Groep de Mos, VVD, CDA, as well as ChristenUnie. They wanted to fly the Israeli flag to show their support for Israel following Hamas rocket attacks on the country. The attacks and retaliation have so far claimed more than 200 lives and injured many hundreds on both sides.

PVV councilor Sebastian Kruis is stunned by the decision. "What a world. What an arbitrariness. The flags of Ukraine, Turkey, and the rainbow community are allowed to fly, the flag of Israel is not," he wrote on X.