Hate and Protests March in The Hague: How Europe Came to Love Iran and Hate Israel

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.

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