# Two former mayors join Amsterdam march against Israel policy

> Job Cohen and Jozias van Aartsen will walk in Sunday's fourth Rode Lijn protest, after 281 former ministers, diplomats and civil servants, and serving civil servants, signed a letter urging prime minister Rob Jetten to take firm measures against Israel.

Politics · published 2026-11-07 13:55 · updated 2026-11-08 08:15 · https://nlnow.nl/a/two-former-mayors-join-amsterdam-march-against-israel-policy/

The fourth Rode Lijn (Red Line) demonstration against the Dutch government's policy on Israel takes place in Amsterdam on Sunday. Organisers include Amnesty International, The Rights Forum, Artsen voor Gaza, Oxfam Novib and PAX.

Former mayors Job Cohen (PvdA) and Jozias van Aartsen (VVD) will join for the first time. On Friday they sent Jetten a letter calling for firm measures against Israel, signed by 281 former ministers, former diplomats, former civil servants and serving civil servants. The cabinet has not yet responded.

Cohen says Israel is committing genocide. "You cannot avoid calling it that," he said. Van Aartsen says Jetten shows insufficient leadership and that "the Netherlands can take these measures on its own."

Jetten walked at the first Rode Lijn demonstration in 2025 as an MP. As prime minister, he has said the Netherlands will take no extra measures against Israel, that it is already sticking its neck out, and that pressure on the Israeli government works better as part of a broad European front.

Since September the Netherlands has had a national ban on importing, buying and selling goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories.

The Rode Lijn marches began in The Hague, where two earlier protests on the Malieveld drew 100,000 and 150,000 participants. The previous Amsterdam protest, in October 2025, drew an estimated 250,000.

## Background

- **Rode Lijn**: The Red Line (Rode Lijn) is a Dutch civil society coalition and campaign that calls on the Dutch government to take a firmer stance against Israel's policy, and it organises public demonstrations to press that demand. It brings together several Dutch non-governmental organisations, which jointly sign up to the campaign's call for government action. It matters in the Netherlands as one of the main channels through which civil society pressure on Dutch foreign policy towards Israel and Gaza is expressed in public.
- **The Rights Forum**: The Rights Forum is a Dutch non-governmental organisation that campaigns for human rights and the observance of international law. It takes part in public campaigns and coalitions that call on the Dutch government to act on human rights issues, including in the Middle East. It is one of the organisations that join other civil society groups in such campaigns.

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