Dutch parliament passes motion calling ‘From the River to the Sea’ criminal incitement

The Dutch parliament adopts by a wafer-thin majority a motion that says that chanting “From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free” is a criminal act of incitement to violence.

The motion, which is not binding, passes thanks to a single vote in a 74-73 split in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch Parliament, which has 150 seats. The motion’s author is Maikel Boon, a lawmaker for the Party for Freedom of Geert Wilders, which was the largest in the 2023 elections and recently announced that it has put together a ruling coalition under its leadership.

Wilders, an anti-Islam, far-right politician, in a vocal supporter of Israel and a self-described promoter of what he calls Judeo-Christian values. The slogan “comes right off the Hamas charter and is therefore a call for violence against all Jews worldwide,” the motion states. The slogan, which references the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, has emerged in recent months a common feature of anti-Israel protests.

Although the motion is not binding on the prosecution service or judges, it is nonetheless the strongest official document on the subject to date in the Netherlands.