Country Report on Terrorism 2023 - Chapter 1 - The Netherlands

Overview:  The Netherlands continued to respond effectively to the global terrorist threat in border and transportation security, counterterrorist financing, CVE, and bilateral and multilateral CT cooperation.  In December the national threat level was raised from 3 (significant) to 4 (substantial), which signifies “a real chance of an attack,” following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military ground invasion in Gaza, on account of an increased risk of terrorist attacks, particularly from jihadist groups.  Contributing factors that heightened this risk included Quran desecrations in Europe, retaliation by jihadist groups, and recent arrests of alleged Hamas sympathizers in Germany and Denmark planning attacks on soft targets.  It was the first time since 2019 that the country had reached this level.  Previously, the country had remained at Level 3 for a prolonged period of years.  The National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV) also underscored concerns over anti-institutional and “right-wing extremism,” alongside the issue of around 10,000 self-proclaimed sovereign citizens in the Netherlands seeking to disconnect from government authority.  There are approximately 15 detained and 11 displaced Dutch nationals in northeast Syria.  In addition, there are about 25 underage children in Kurdish camps.  To date, the Netherlands has repatriated approximately 64 displaced nationals but has declined to repatriate its adult male detained nationals.

2023 Terrorist Incidents:  There were no reported terrorist incidents during 2023.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security:  There were no significant changes in law enforcement structures, capacity, international cooperation, or border security legislation in 2023.  On October 27 the government submitted a bill to Parliament that aimed to increase the maximum prison sentence for “participation in an organization whose aim is to commit terrorist crimes” from 15 to 20 years.

Significant law enforcement and judicial actions related to CT included the following:

• In April, four women who had been repatriated from northeast Syria in 2022 were convicted by the district court of Rotterdam for participation in a terrorist organization and preparatory acts for a terrorist crime.  A fifth woman was acquitted of participating in a terrorist organization but convicted of taking her children to a conflict zone and leaving them in a helpless state.  The sentences imposed ranged from 30 to 36 months in prison, of which 12 to 15 months were conditional.
• In July, two persons from Kyrgyzstan were arrested on suspicion of terrorism and charged with membership in a terrorist organization and preparing terrorist acts.
• In December the Appeals Court in The Hague sentenced a woman to four years of imprisonment for participation in a terrorist organization – both Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS – and preparatory acts for terrorist crimes.
• In December, Dutch authorities arrested a man from Rotterdam at the request of German counterparts on suspicion of preparing terrorist attacks in Europe.  According to the German Public Prosecution Service, this individual was part of a group of four terrorist suspects, all allegedly members of Hamas.

The NCTV outlined in its public terrorist threat assessments the persistent threat from “right-wing extremism,” especially among young individuals radicalized online, sharing “extremist” content, and discussing violence.  The threat involved various groups, including neo-Nazis and alt-right, focusing on normalizing “extremist” ideas.  While some of these groups generally view violence as counterproductive, the NCTV warned that radicalized individuals in these online environments could commit acts of violence, driven by accelerationist ideologies aimed at precipitating a race war to establish a “white ethnostate.”  Anti-institutional “extremists” in the Netherlands, including self-declared “sovereign citizens” who reject government legitimacy, also posed a threat by undermining democratic norms with narratives of an “evil elite.”  According to the NCTV, a small, radical subset within these groups is open to violence against the government or to preparing for confrontations.  The Netherlands added right-wing neo-Nazi accelerationist paramilitary group the Base to its National Terror Watchlist in 2023.

The Netherlands is a member of the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, which requires broad CT partnership, including routine information sharing and border screening cooperation.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism:  The Netherlands is a member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and a Cooperating and Supporting Nations of the Caribbean Financial Action Tack Force (CFATF).  Its Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is a member of the Egmont Group.  Following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, FIU-Netherlands co-chaired the Counterterrorist Financing Taskforce-Israel, which aims to strengthen efforts to disrupt the international money flows to Hamas and support global antiterrorism efforts through the coordination of financial intelligence and information sharing.  As of December the government’s national terrorist watchlists included 130 individuals and three organizations whose assets were frozen.

Countering Violent Extremism:  The Netherlands’ 2022-26 National Counterterrorism Strategy adopted more targeted measures toward preventing “potentially violent, extremist lone actors.”  In addition to the National Police, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the Ministries of Social Affairs and Education, local governments worked with civil society, religious, and community leaders both to identify potential “radicalization” and to reintegrate individuals back into society.  A May publication by the General Intelligence and Security Service highlighted the threat posed by anti-institutional “extremism”:  the proliferation of the narrative of an “evil elite.”  The Netherlands is struggling to respond to the threat of this “extremist” behavior that is seen as undermining the democratic legal order; adequate policy from both the state and municipal level has yet to be developed.

International and Regional Cooperation:  The Netherlands actively participates in international and regional organizations or groupings with regard to counterterrorism priorities, including these three:

• The European Union:  The Netherlands is an active participant in Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre and contributed personnel to relevant EU training missions.  The Netherlands also emphasizes its integrated approach to combating “radicalization” and violent extremism through the Radicalization Awareness Network Center of Excellence, which brings together frontline professionals to prevent radicalization and provides guidance to EU member states and other countries.

• The Global Counterterrorism Forum:  The Netherlands is host to the Global Counterterrorism Forum’s (GCTF’s) Administrative Unit and sits on the governing board of the three GCTF-inspired institutions:  the International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism (Hedayah), the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law, and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF).  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has allocated $5.3 million in core funding to GCERF for 2022-24.

• The Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS:  The Netherlands is a member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and has been active in the FTF Working Group on assisting repatriation of Iraqi FTFs back to Iraq.