Attack on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam condemned as antisemitic

AMSTERDAM — Young people on scooters attacked Israeli fans in hit-and-run assaults overnight after a soccer game in Amsterdam apparently fueled by calls to target Jewish people spread on social media, Dutch authorities said Friday. Five people were treated in hospitals and dozens were arrested.

Tensions had been mounting in the Dutch capital over Israel’s campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon, even before the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday night. Amsterdam authorities banned a planned pro-Palestinian demonstration near the stadium, and video showed a large crowd of Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans en route to the game.

Afterwards, youths on scooters crisscrossed the city in search of Israeli fans, punching and kicking them and then fleeing quickly to evade police, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said.

In Telegram groups, she added, “there is talk of people going on a Jew hunt. That is so shocking and so despicable that I still cannot fathom it.”

Police had to escort some fans back to hotels, according to authorities.

Ofek Ziv, a Maccabi fan from the Israeli city of Petah Tikva, said someone — he didn’t see who — threw a rock at him as he and a friend left the stadium. He was hit in the head, causing light bleeding. He said a group of Arab men began to chase him, before he and his friend got into a taxi, picking up other fans. They took shelter at a hotel.

“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.

Five people were treated in the hospital and released, while some 20 to 30 people suffered light injuries, police said. At least 62 suspects were arrested, with 10 still in custody, the city’s public prosecutor, René de Beukelaer, told reporters at a news conference Friday.

With condemnation of the violence as antisemitic pouring in from around Europe, the attacks shattered Amsterdam’s long-cherished view of itself as a beacon of tolerance and haven for persecuted religions, including Sephardic Jews from Portugal and Spain.

Halsema called the violence “an eruption of antisemitism that we had hoped never again to see in Amsterdam.”

Police said 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.

The violence reverberated intensely in Israel and across Europe. Israel’s foreign minister left on an urgent trip to the Netherlands, and the government initially ordered two planes sent to the Dutch capital to bring fans home. The prime minister’s office later said it would work to help citizens arrange commercial flights.

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.

The extent of the attacks Thursday night and where and when they took place was not clear. Tensions had been brewing for days.

A Palestinian flag was torn down from a building in Amsterdam on Wednesday, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported, and authorities banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration near the stadium.

Ahead of the game, large crowds of supporters of the Israeli team could be seen on video chanting anti-Arab slogans as they headed to the stadium, escorted by police.

“Let the IDF win, and (expletive) the Arabs,” the fans chanted, using the acronym of the Israeli military, as they shook their fists. It also showed police pushing several pro-Palestinian protesters away from a Maccabi fan gathering in a square earlier in the day.

De Beukelaer said police were investigating “to what extent an organization is behind” the attacks on Israeli fans, adding, “I have too few indications for that at the moment.”

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.”