Amsterdam mayor clashes with VVD leader over Gaza-support protests
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema is clashing with VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz over Gaza support sit-ins planned at 16 Dutch train stations on Monday, October 7 - the one-year anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel that sparked this past year’s violence. Yeşilgöz called the sit-in protests “tasteless,” “terrible,” and anti-Semitic. Halsema responded that Yeşilgöz is “criminalizing” support for Palestinians and thus “setting the stage for conflict for Monday evening.”
On 7 October 2023, the terrorist organization Hamas committed an attack on Israel, killing 1,139 people and taking 251 people hostage. 101 of them are still in custody. Israel responded with a large-scale offense on the Gaza Strip and has been ceaselessly bombing the coastal strip housing the bulk of the Palestinian population since. In the past year, Israeli attacks have killed at least 41,870 people, including 16,765 children, Al Jazeera reported based on figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Hamas attack on Israel will be commemorated in Amsterdam on Monday evening, organized by the Centraal Joods Overleg and the Israeli embassy. Prime Minister Dick Schoof will attend. Also this evening, people who want to show support for the Palestinians and protest against the Israeli government’s continued attacks will hold sit-ins at 16 train stations in the Netherlands.
Speaking on the television program WNL op Zondag, Yeşilgöz called the planned sit-ins “tasteless” and “terrible.” She agreed with a letter by five local VVD factions last week, accusing NS of facilitating anti-Semitism by allowing the demonstrations. “I understand that appeal very well. It is what it is, let’s be honest,” the VVD leader said.
Yeşilgöz said she values the right to demonstrate in the Netherlands but added: “I do not understand why you do not have the decency to leave [October 7] alone. This is deliberately trying to hurt people, and I honestly do not understand why you would choose that day.” According to her, by showing support for Palestine, the demonstrators are legitimizing Hamas.
Halsema responded to Yeşilgöz’s statements on the television program Buitenhof. “These are demonstrations against the Israeli government and the behavior of the Israeli government in Gaza and other places. That is a legitimate and really valid right to demonstrate,” she said.
According to the Amsterdam mayor, by “criminalizing” Gaza support demonstrations, the VVD leader is “setting the stage for conflict on Monday evening.” She and her fellow mayors, who are responsible for ensuring that demonstrations can happen safely, need help from national politicians “and not opposition,” Halsema said.
“We must be able to guarantee that if people want to demonstrate and express their solidarity with, for example, Palestine, they can do so in freedom. Without being convicted and without us as administrators being put against the wall,” Halsema said.
