A Hamas network has been involved in organising protests in the Netherlands, according to a General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) report, which also states that individuals were identified as raising funds and lobbying on behalf of the Palestinian terrorist organisation in the country.
The AIVD’s 2025 annual report assesses that Hamas was linked to groups organising pro-Palestinian demonstrations. It adds that while these protests did not result in violent incidents in 2025, they could contribute to societal polarisation.
According to the AIVD, the Hamas network involved in demonstrations has been active for years in propaganda, lobbying, and fundraising for the terrorist organisation. As part of a broader European Hamas network, the report indicates that around ten individuals have been linked to these cells.
The Netherlands Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has also announced it is seeking a three-year prison sentence, with one year suspended, for a 58-year-old man from Leidschendam who allegedly transferred around €8 million to Hamas between 2010 and 2023.
The AIVD is also examining potential national security threats linked to Hamas following a series of arrests across Europe in connection with alleged Lebanese Hamas cells suspected of planning attacks on Jewish or Israeli targets on the continent.
The agency assesses that the national security threat posed by left-wing extremism, for whom the war in Gaza has been a key issue, remains limited. Marxist-Leninist and anarchist extremists oppose Israel, contributing to a diverse composition of demonstrations. These groups have, at times, found common ground with Palestinian, Islamic, climate, and anti-imperialist activists.
Samidoun Netherlands, an alleged branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was given particular attention by the AIVD for its role in facilitating the cross-pollination of different strands of extremism. The agency assesses that the threat it poses is limited, though its propaganda may contribute to radicalisation and polarisation.
“The organisation does not call for violence, but it does glorise violence against Israelis and the Israeli state, for example by legitimising the actions of terrorist organisations,” the AIVD stated of the group, which has been sanctioned in Germany, Canada, and the United States. “Although Samidoun’s following in the Netherlands is small, its extremist messaging resonates more broadly.”
While the broader left-wing extremist milieu does not explicitly target Jewish residents or institutions, the AIVD notes a “striking” number of incidents of graffiti and vandalism against companies and government buildings, driven by the belief that they are linked to arms deliveries to Israel or to Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria. Windows have frequently been smashed, and façades covered in paint.
