An alternative May 4 Remembrance ceremony organised by a group of civil servants and former diplomats in The Hague is set to go ahead despite protests from the official event’s organisers.

Commemorating the dead of World War II would be meaningless without also paying attention to the ongoing genocide, the organisers, who are also involved in the weekly sit-in protest against the Dutch Israel policy at the foreign affairs ministry, said.

The alternative remembrance, dubbed “May 4 inclusive”, includes all victims of war, genocide, persecution and repression which involve the Dutch government either “actively or by omission”, the group said on its website.

The alternative event will include groups that are not explicitly on the Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei memorandum, such as (ex) refugees who live in the Netherlands and everyone in the Netherlands whose relatives or near ones are victims of violence. The event will also commemorate the dead in Gaza, who do not figure in the official ceremony.

Nationaal Comité member Leonie Durlinger questioned the timing of the event, which she said was “worthy” but should not be held on May 4 because it would take away from the victims of the Holocaust.

But according to organisers, highlighting what is happening in Gaza on May 4 is key to the event. “What is the use of commemorating just the victims of the past if we haven’t taken the lessons from the past into the present?” Jan Wouter Vorderman told Trouw.

Former diplomat and fellow-organiser Tessa Terpstra said the May 4 memorandum may sound inclusive but isn’t.

“If you read the interpretation of the Comité 4 en 5 Mei you will see that the passage about “war situations and peace missions post-war” specifies only the Dutch troops that died after the war. That our representatives will be standing there saying “never again” while having supported a genocide for the last 18 months is just hypocritical”, she said in an interview with the Volkskrant.

The organisers emphasise that the alternative commemoration will not be a protest meeting. “We are asking people not to bring flags, but a flower. This is not a political event but I won’t deny there is a message here. But it’s not our focus, which is on the common grief for which there is no room on Dam square,” Vorderman said.

The meeting, at the Koekamplaan in The Hague starts at 7 pm and will feature speeches by Bosnian refugee Maustafa Hadziibraimovic, Gaza refugee Mohammed Zaanoun, and Holocaust survivor Hedy d’Ancona.