This year’s Remembrance Day cannot be seen separately from the war in Gaza | May 4 and 5

Every year there are strict security measures surrounding the National Remembrance Day in Amsterdam. But this year it is also not allowed to bring flags, signs or sound amplifying equipment. The police will search interested parties before they enter Dam Square. The maximum number of attendees has also been halved to ten thousand due to fear of disturbances.

At many local commemorations of the dead, such as at Camp Vught National Monument and Camp Westerbork, no additional security measures are in place. But most organizers keep a close eye on any developments.

The extra vigilance is due to increased tensions in society due to the war in Gaza. Moreover, hatred of Jews in the Netherlands has increased sharply before that bloody conflict, but also afterward. The same goes for Muslim hatred. The vast majority of Gaza’s mainly Palestinian residents are Muslim.

Hatred of Jews, also called anti-Semitism, is precisely what has led to the annual Remembrance Day commemoration on May 4. The genocide of as many Jews as possible, purely because of their origin, was one of the goals of the Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler. This systematic murder cost the lives of approximately six million Jews during the Second World War (1939-1945). More than 100,000 of those fatalities lived in the Netherlands.

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This year, the war in Gaza clearly hangs over Remembrance Day in the Netherlands. There has been a lot of international criticism about the way in which Israel retaliated against the terror attacks by Hamas on October 7 last year. Sometimes this criticism is accompanied by anti-Semitism, which also makes Jews outside Israel feel threatened.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague is currently investigating whether Israel is guilty of genocidal acts in Gaza. The investigation follows a complaint by South Africa.

National Coordinator for Combating Anti-Semitism Eddo Verdoner is not against criticism of Israel, he tells NU.nl. “Criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitism. But disguised as criticism of Israel and promoting stereotypes about Jewish people, for example, it is. And we must be vigilant against that, especially during Remembrance Day.”

Moreover, people who want to commemorate the victims of the Second World War must be able to do so in a dignified manner. “A commemoration is also a kind of demonstration,” Verdoner explains. “This must be able to take place without disruption.”

Mayor Femke Halsema of Amsterdam also thinks so. That is why she has decided on the extra security measures together with the police, the Public Prosecution Service and the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security.

For example, items of clothing that refer to the war in Gaza are taboo. Any demonstrators must stay out of sight of people on Dam Square during National Remembrance Day.

Yet Halsema is also looking for “connection” between residents of the Netherlands who seem to be diametrically opposed to each other regarding the war in Gaza, a spokesperson tells NU.nl. “That will be evident from her speech.”

The National Commemoration 2024 can be seen live on NPO1 from 6:45 PM. The radio broadcast starts at 6:30 PM on NPO Radio 1.