Attackers assaulted Israeli fans after a soccer match in Amsterdam, leaving 5 people hospitalized

[November 08, 2024]  By MIKE CORDER

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Attackers assaulted Israeli fans overnight after a soccer match in Amsterdam, leaving five people hospitalized, Dutch authorities said Friday. Dozens were arrested.

It was not clear how the violence began. Dutch and Israeli leaders denounced the attacks as antisemitic. Video showed Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans in the streets before the game.

Peter Holla, the city’s acting police chief, told a news conference that the fans were “willfully attacked.” He said people on scooters staged “hit-and-run” attacks, making it difficult for police to track them down.

Israel’s foreign minister left urgently for the Netherlands. Israel initially ordered that two planes be sent to bring fans home, but later the prime minister’s office said it would work to help citizens arrange commercial flights.

Security concerns have shrouded matches with Israeli teams in multiple countries over the past year because of global tensions linked to the wars in the Middle East. Ahead of Thursday night’s Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv, Amsterdam authorities had banned a planned pro-Palestinian demonstration near the stadium.

Still, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema told reporters Friday that the Dutch counterterror watchdog said there was no concrete threat to Israeli soccer fans before the game.

Authorities said extra police would patrol Amsterdam in coming days, and security will be beefed up at Jewish institutions in the city that has a large Jewish community and was home to Jewish World War II diarist Anne Frank and her family as they hid from Nazi occupiers.

Friction had been growing in the days before the match. Dutch broadcaster NOS reported that a Palestinian flag was ripped off a building in the center of the city on Wednesday.

Ahead of the game, video also showed large crowds of supporters of the Israeli team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, chanting anti-Arab slogans. “Let the IDF win, and (expletive) the Arabs,” the fans chanted, using the acronym of the Israeli military, as they shook their fists. Maccabi fans have used the same chant during recent matches in Israel. It also showed police pushing several pro-Palestinian protesters away from a Maccabi fan gathering in a square earlier in the day.

It was not immediately clear when and where violence erupted Thursday night.

The Dutch capital’s municipality, police and prosecution office said rioters “actively sought out Israeli supporters to attack and assault them in several parts of the city. “The police had to intervene several times, protect Israeli supporters and escort them to hotels.”

It called the violence antisemitic.

Ofek Ziv, a Maccabi fan from the Israeli city of Petah Tikva, said he and a friends were leaving the stadium after the match. Someone — he didn’t see who — threw a rock at him, hitting his head and causing bleeding. He said a group of Arab men began to chase him, before he and his friend quickly got into a taxi, picking up other fans. They took shelter at a hotel.

Amsterdam's Mayor Femke Halsema, centre, acting Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla, left, and head of the Amsterdam public prosecutor's office René de Beukelaer hold a news conference after Israeli fans and protesters clashed overnight after a soccer match, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Friday Nov, 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mike Corder)

“I’m very scared, it’s very striking. This shouldn’t happen to anyone, specifically in Amsterdam. Lots of friends were hurt, injured, kidnapped, robbed, and the police didn’t come to help us,” he said.

The Amsterdam police said in a post on social media platform X that they have started a major investigation into multiple violent incidents. More than 60 people were detained, and 10 were still in custody on Friday, according to Amsterdam's public prosecutor, René de Beukelaer.

The Dutch prime minister, Dick Schoof, said, “This is simply antisemitic violence against Israelis,” calling the attacks “downright scandalous and reprehensible.”

After the overnight violence, Israel ordered two planes be sent to the Dutch capital to bring the Israelis home, but later the prime minister’s office said it would work on “providing civil aviation solutions for the return of our citizens.″

A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that “the harsh pictures of the assault on our citizens in Amsterdam will not be overlooked,” and that Netanyahu “views the horrifying incident with utmost gravity.” He demanded that the Dutch government take “vigorous and swift action” against those involved.

Netanyahu’s office added that he had called for increased security for the Jewish community in the Netherlands.

Security issues around hosting games against visiting Israeli teams led the Belgian soccer federation to decline to stage a men’s Nations League game in September. That game against Israel was played in Hungary with no fans in the stadium.

The violence in Amsterdam will no doubt lead to a review of security at upcoming matches involving Israeli teams. European soccer body UEFA announced already on Monday that Maccabi’s next Europa League match, scheduled in Istanbul on Nov. 28 against Turkish team Besiktas, would be moved to a yet-to-be-decided neutral venue “following a decision by the Turkish authorities.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s national team is scheduled to play France in Paris on Nov. 14 in the Nations League. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said Thursday that the match would go ahead as planned at the Stade de France just outside the French capital after assurances from police.

“I think that for a symbolic reason we must not yield, we must not give up,” he said, noting that sports fans from around the world came together for the Paris Olympics this year to celebrate the “universal values” of sports.

“We will be uncompromising,” he added. “To touch a Jewish compatriot is to touch the republic.”

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