Netherlands adds Israel to list of threatening state actors over attempts to influence political opinion, threats to ICC

Earlier this month, the Dutch National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism (NCTV) published a report titled “Threat Assessment from Foreign States 2025.”

The listing of Israel as a threatening state is unusual, and puts it on the same level as Iran and Russia in the report, despite a discrepancy in the level of reported activities carried out by Israel, and those carried out by Iran and Russia. 

The Dutch report claims that Israel attempted to “influence political and public opinion abroad” when members of the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism distributed a document detailing the Ministry’s findings on the events surrounding the Ajax–Maccabi Tel Aviv football (soccer) match.

Under a section titled, “Israeli Attempt to Influence Dutch Politics and Society,” the report stated, “Israel also attempts to influence political and public opinion abroad, including in the Netherlands.” 

Referencing the report by the Israeli ministry, the NCTV report stated, “The report was not shared with the Dutch government through official channels, but was sent directly to specific politicians and journalists. The Dutch Ministers of Justice and Security and Foreign Affairs deemed the method of distribution unusual and, due to the potential negative consequences for Dutch residents, undesirable.” 

The residents in question were those who had attacked or harassed Israelis following the football match. 

“The individuals mentioned could be intimidated or threatened, or, in the most serious case, attacked,” the NCTV report stated, while ignoring the consequences for the Israeli citizens who were similarly intimidated, threatened, or attacked. 

During the clashes surrounding the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv football match, dozens of Israel fans were harassed, chased, beaten, and threatened with knives. While Dutch authorities originally said the clashes erupted after aggressive Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters removed a Palestinian flag from a home in Amsterdam, a Washington Post report demonstrated that “the violence that unfolded was not one-sided.”

The Washington Post report showed that there was “planned coordination – among taxi drivers and other locals who used messaging apps to organize a show of force, with at least one chat referring to a ‘Jew hunt.’” 

The anti-Jewish sentiment seen in the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv incident was repeated just a few days later in a “Free Palestine” protest in Amsterdam, in which antisemitic slogans were shouted during destructive riots. 

The second area of concern identified in the NCTV report was that of “state interference” on international institutions within the Netherlands. 

In a section titled, “Institutions as targets of state actors,” the NCTV report talks about Israeli and U.S. actions against “international institutions present in the Netherlands, such as the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.” 

“The United States and Israel have publicly threatened the court, and the United States has imposed sanctions,” the NCTV report stated. “This could damage or even halt the court's operations, partly because the court may have limited or no access to financial services. Currently, sanctions have only been imposed against a chief prosecutor due to the Court's arrest warrants for the Israeli Prime Minister and former Defense Minister.” 

The report does not address the specific complaints raised by Israel or the U.S. against the two bodies, including lack of jurisdiction and personal and legal improprieties by the chief prosecutor. The report appears to draw an equivalence between Israel’s legal actions to protect the independence of its own judicial system, with attempts by Russia to infiltrate the ICC and to carry out hacking operations against the ICC and ICJ by Russia-affiliated hacking groups. 

At time of publication, the Israeli government had not issued an official response to the report by the Dutch body.