Time to Speak: Exposing the Anti-Israel Machine

Once upon a time, there was a country where the people were overwhelmingly pro-Israel. It was a natural position, a default state of mind. Supporting Israel was normal, and anything else felt off. I’m speaking of the Netherlands in the 1970s and 1980s, when Dutch society, young and old, held Israel in high regard. It was a given that “the Dutch love Israel,” and Israel knew it too.

But how different things are now.
Where did it all go wrong?

The Rise of the PPM – Pallywood Propaganda Machine

I can’t point to an exact year, but gradually something shifted. Was it linked to the increasing number of immigrants with deep-rooted anti-Israel sentiments? Or did it result from the meticulously crafted strategies of what I call the Pallywood Propaganda Machine (PPM)?

What is the PPM? It’s a global, organized propaganda effort, mostly pro-Hamas in nature, that seeks to systematically demonize Israel and its people. Using fake news, staged videos, edited images, and emotionally manipulative narratives, the PPM feeds the world a distorted image of Israel as a brutal, colonial oppressor.

A classic example of this manipulation is the child-activist Ahed Tamimi, nicknamed “Shirley Temper”. Her face appeared in countless viral videos, confronting IDF soldiers with well-rehearsed rage. While the scenes were presented as spontaneous resistance, they were carefully choreographed performances. Her family knew exactly how to provoke a response, film it, and send it to sympathetic Western media.

What makes it worse is that these fabrications aren’t just innocent misunderstandings, they are calculated psychological warfare. They weaponize emotions and use children, fake funerals, or staged injuries to sway public opinion. Young people in Europe grow up exposed only to these lies. They’ve never been given the other side of the story. They’ve never heard that Israeli soldiers often go to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties, or that Hamas uses civilians,  including children as human shields.

The Silence of the Good

Where was the rebuttal?
It didn’t come. Not from the Israeli government, and not from most pro-Israel groups in Europe.

Israel never prioritized its international image. Many Israelis believed, “Let the truth speak for itself.” In the Netherlands, pro-Israel voices often said, “We will not stoop to their level. We know better. We are working quietly, behind the scenes.”

But behind-the-scenes advocacy isn’t enough. The average Dutch citizen doesn’t see it. All they see is what floods their screens and that’s almost exclusively PPM-produced propaganda. They never see the rockets falling on Sderot or Ashkelon. They don’t see Israeli Arab doctors treating Jewish and Arab patients side by side. They don’t know that Israel has repeatedly offered peace, only to be met with terrorism.

Unless they’re part of a Christian Zionist community or Jewish themselves, most Dutch people are no longer pro-Israel. And who can blame them, if all they’ve ever seen is carefully edited rage?

Standing Up: The Birth of a Movement

After the horrific 2014 synagogue attack in Jerusalem where four rabbis and a Druze police officer were murdered during morning prayers, I’d had enough.

That moment marked the founding of Time to Stand Up for Israel, a grassroots Facebook group that has grown into a full-fledged foundation since January 2023. Wich started with nearly 1,600 members, we have now over 200.000 our motto is simple:

Get off your computer. Speak out for Israel—online and in the streets.

We organize rallies, awareness campaigns, and public events to counter the lies of the PPM and give people the courage to speak out. Slowly but surely, our voices are being heard. For the first time in years, pro-Israel narratives are beginning to emerge in Dutch society again.

But even now, we’re told to be quiet.
“Don’t be a Don Quixote,” they say.
“They are with more. You’re only making things worse.”

But has silence helped?
Has the strategy of staying quiet behind the scenes improved Israel’s image in the Netherlands?

Absolutely not.

In fact, it has made things worse.
We’ve gone from being a pro-Israel country to a nation where supporting Israel makes you a pariah. Where people are labeled “racist” simply for expressing solidarity with a democracy under constant threat. Where antisemitism is no longer whispered but openly normalized.

Lies That Went Viral: Real Examples of PPM Deception

Some well-documented examples of PPM lies include:

• The “Green Helmet” Incident (2006): A Lebanese man in a green helmet was filmed dramatically retrieving a child’s body from rubble. Footage later revealed he moved the body several times for the perfect photo-op.
• The Al-Durrah Hoax (2000): A boy, Muhammad al-Durrah, was allegedly shot by Israeli soldiers while his father shielded him. Years later, it was proven the IDF could not have shot him from their position. Even France’s public broadcaster admitted the footage was manipulated.
• Fake Gaza Funerals: Multiple videos have surfaced of “dead” Palestinians falling off stretchers and getting up to climb back on while the cameras are still rolling.

These are not fringe examples. They’ve been broadcast by CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, and even Dutch media without verification.

Time for Justice, Time to Speak

Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched one of its most brutal attacks in decades, anti-Israel sentiment has escalated like never before. Pro-Israel voices are drowned out, ridiculed, or silenced. Israel can do nothing right in the eyes of the world.

But Time to Stand Up for Israel stands for justice.

Justice for a country that defends its people, even while being vilified for doing so.
Justice for the truth, which has been buried under decades of lies.

Speaking is gold. Silence is failure.

We are no longer willing to be silent. The Dutch public deserves to hear the full story.
Israel deserves better. And if not us—then who?

Pro-Israel? Then now is the time to stand up.