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Hate and Protests March in The Hague: How Europe Came to Love Iran and Hate Israel
Judges, including Sarah Cleveland, arrive at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), during a ruling on South Africa’s request to order a halt to Israel’s Rafah offensive in Gaza, in The Hague, Netherlands, May 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Johanna Geron
If someone had told me 10 years ago that one of the biggest political movements in Europe would revolve around glorifying authoritarian regimes that kill women, oppress minorities, and chant for the destruction of a democratic state, I would’ve laughed.
But here we are.
Last week, 150,000 people took to the streets of The Hague, draped in red, waving Hezbollah flags and signs of support for the Iranian regime, screaming for the eradication of Israel. This happened in 2025 — in the Netherlands.
The crowd was not just angry men or fringe radicals, it was filled with Dutch girls in eyeliner and keffiyehs, influencers, students, and self-proclaimed feminists. All passionately backing regimes that would treat them like property, or worse.
What happened to Western values?
Let’s break this down.
These demonstrators claim to be standing up for “freedom” and “justice.” Yet they are parroting slogans fed to them by theocratic dictatorships like Iran, which hangs gay people from cranes, arrests women for showing hair, and tortures journalists for speaking the truth.
This is the same Iran that murdered Mahsa Amini in 2022 for not wearing her hijab properly. The same Iran that executed Navid Afkari, Ruhollah Zam, and dozens of teenage girls who dared to speak out or even sing without permission.
But hey, throw on a red hoodie, scream “Death to Israel,” and suddenly you’re the face of resistance?
Here’s what these red-dressed revolutionaries won’t tell you:
- In Israel, women can drive, vote, serve in government, and lead tech companies.
- In Israel, LGBTQ+ individuals live openly, serve in the military, and hold public office.
- In Israel, Arab citizens are doctors, judges, and journalists.
- And in Israel, you can criticize the government without disappearing in the middle of the night.
Meanwhile, in the regimes these demonstrators are supporting:
- Homosexuality is punishable by death.
- Women who speak out risk flogging or execution.
- Political dissent is met with bullets, poison, or the hangman’s noose.
So why the selective outrage?
It’s simple: Israel represents everything these protestors claim to value, but it’s Jewish, strong, and refuses to apologize for existing. That makes it a threat — not because of what it does, but because of what it is.
And this hatred? It isn’t new. It’s ancient, recycled, and repackaged in hashtags and protest posters. Antisemitism has just swapped its brownshirts for influencers and its swastikas for Palestinian flags.
It’s now trendy in some circles to hate the only democracy in the Middle East, not because it’s oppressive, but because it defends itself against actual oppression. The world, somehow, has gone mad.
In 2025, the real rebels are no longer those fighting for freedom in Tehran or Haifa — they’re the ones being canceled for defending a country that protects gay pride parades in the same week it’s under rocket attack.
To those who marched: You’re not standing up for peace. You’re standing with tyrants.
You’re not liberators. You’re their useful idiots.
And when you wear red, it’s not a symbol of rebellion, it’s the color of blood spilled by the very regimes you’re cheering for.
Israel isn’t perfect. No nation is. But it’s free. It’s democratic. And it stands on the front lines against terrorism, fanaticism, and fascism. The fact that this is controversial in 2025 says more about the state of the West than it does about Israel.
So go ahead, paint the streets red. But history won’t forget which side you chose when the dust settles.
And those of us who still believe in truth, freedom, and sanity, we’re not going anywhere.
Sabine Sterk is the CEO of Time to Stand Up for Israel.
The post Hate and Protests March in The Hague: How Europe Came to Love Iran and Hate Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.