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Pro-Israel Parties in Commanding Position Following Shock Election Result in Netherlands
Dutch politician Geert Wilders of the PVV Party. Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
Pro-Israel parties found themselves in a commanding position on Thursday morning following the prior day’s elections in the Netherlands which resulted in the country’s main far right leader winning a plurality of votes.
“The PVV can no longer be ignored,” Geert Wilders — leader of the Freedom Party (PVV) and a veteran campaigner against migration — said as his party headed to win 37 of the 150 seats in the Dutch parliament in the surprise outcome. “We will govern.”
Wilders is a vocal supporter of Israel. Following the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in southern Israel, he has backed Israel’s military response, declaring in one recent tweet that “Hamas needs to be eliminated. We have to fully support Israel and the Jewish people!” He has also advocated moving the Dutch Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and has described the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as a Palestinian state already in existence.
However, concerns about renewed conflict in the Middle East and rising antisemitism at home were far from the minds of Dutch voters on Wednesday, the Dutch Jewish news outlet Jonet observed in an editorial on Thursday.
“Jewish topics such as antisemitism, the Middle East conflict, ritual slaughter, or Jewish special education did not play a major role in the 2023 parliamentary election campaign,” the editors wrote. “This makes sense, because Jews in the Netherlands only form a group of 40,000 residents and because many non-Jews are not engaged with these subjects either. Partly because the previous cabinet fell on the failed asylum agreement, migration became the main subject of the campaign. Coincidentally, the parties who want a stricter and fairer migration policy are also more pro-Jewish and pro-Israel.”
A government led by Wilders is far from guaranteed, as the PVV needs at least 39 more parliamentary seats to form a ruling coalition. One option, as Jonet pointed out, would bring the PVV together with three other parties with pro-Israel records.
The three parties are the BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB — “Farmers and Citizens Movement”), the New Social Contract (NSC), and the centrist People’s Party (VVD).
The tally of seats for the BBB — a populist party with an agrarian base — rose from one to seven. According to Jonet, the party is “pro-Jewish and pro-Israeli” and has endorsed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism which includes several examples of anti-Zionism. The center-right NSC, launched only last August, increased its share from one seat to 20; party leader Pieter Omtzigt “was known as pro-Jewish and pro-Israel with his voting behavior in the parliament,” Jonet said.
The VVD, led by Dilan Yesilgöz, decreased its share of seats by 10, ending up with 24. Yesilgöz has been a consistent supporter of Israel and may be tempted to work with Wilders. On Thursday morning, she told the Dutch broadcaster NOS that she would not rule out joining a PVV-led government. “We really need to let it sink in and see what exactly happened and what the voters said,” she said of the surprise result. “We are not there yet.”
Wilders’ success marks a historic moment for Europe’s far right, anti-migration parties. While they have triumphed electorally in recent years in many parts of eastern Europe, including Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, western Europe had proved more elusive until Wilders’ breakthrough on Wednesday.
The post Pro-Israel Parties in Commanding Position Following Shock Election Result in Netherlands 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.