Attacks on Israeli soccer fans a ‘black night’ for Amsterdam, mayor says

Mobs of assailants, including men on scooters, chased Israeli soccer fans through the streets of Amsterdam after a match in the capital’s main stadium, Dutch authorities said Friday, beating them in attacks that Mayor Femke Halsema described as a “black night” for the city.

The violence, which Dutch and Israeli officials condemned as antisemitic, sent five people to the hospital, police said. Authorities arrested dozens more, they added, and 10 suspects remained in custody late Friday.

The unrest followed Thursday’s Europa League game between Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Dutch club, Ajax, at the Johan Cruijff Arena in the capital’s southeast. But tensions had already flared the night before the match, police said, after Maccabi fans vandalized a taxi and set fire to a Palestinian flag.

Videos posted online showed groups of Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans as they made their way around Amsterdam ahead of the game. “Let the IDF win, and [expletive] the Arabs,” the fans chanted, referring to the Israeli military, the Israel Defense Forces.

The Netherlands and its capital, Amsterdam, are home to sizable Arab and Muslim populations, most of whom have origins in Morocco and Turkey, according to Dutch government statistics.

Israel has come under harsh scrutiny worldwide over its year-long war in Gaza, where more than 43,000 people have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Last month, the Israeli military also invaded Lebanon, where it is waging a campaign to weaken the Hezbollah militant group.

But Halsema said at a news conference Friday that there was “no excuse” for the attacks on Israeli spectators, describing them as “unbearable.” Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof also criticized what he said were the “completely unacceptable antisemitic attacks on Israelis,” adding that he assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call that the perpetrators would be tracked down and prosecuted.

Israel is doing “everything possible to ensure the safety and security” of its citizens who were attacked and to return them home, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. El Al, Israel’s national carrier, said it would operate a free-of-charge rescue flight from Amsterdam, while the Foreign Ministry urged Israelis to stay inside their hotels until authorities could ensure their safe passage to the airport.

The Israeli military also said it was banning all of its personnel from visiting the Netherlands until further notice. It was unclear whether any Israeli soldiers or reservists were involved.

The details of how the violence unfolded remained unclear: Halsema said there were no concrete threats to any of the players or fans ahead of time but that the city had deployed extra police as a precaution.

Dutch police said that there were “tensions” between locals and the soccer fans in a number of areas around the city Wednesday night. Amsterdam Police Chief Peter Holla told reporters that law enforcement had to intervene at a casino Wednesday night after Israeli spectators vandalized a taxi, prompting some of the city’s cabdrivers to mobilize and confront the fans.

Clashes and scuffles continued into the early hours of Thursday morning, he said. At the game, a video verified by The Washington Post showed Maccabi fans jeering and whistling while the rest of the stadium held a minute of silence for the victims of recent flooding in Valencia, Spain, where more than 200 people were killed.

Holla said that he was “shocked” by the violence that broke out after the match, adding that police were overwhelmed by the large number of assailants. One compilation of videos, which included clips that appeared to have been posted by the perpetrators, was shared by the Israeli Embassy in Washington. It showed men being beaten in the street and a car ramming into a person. In part of the video, a person off camera can be heard screaming “For the children!” and “Free Palestine now!” at a man who is shown cowering as he is hit.

“The days of chasing Jews down European city streets should remain in the dark annals of history,” the Embassy said.

The Union of European Football Associations, the governing body of European soccer, said in a statement that it “strongly condemns the incidents and acts of violence” before and after the match, and that it would gather available evidence and evaluate any further course of action.

Since the war started, Israeli teams have played most of their home games in Hungary.

Belgium declined to host an Israel match in September, saying that the “dramatic situation in Gaza” could provoke demonstrations that could compromise the security of fans and residents.

France on Friday said it would continue with plans to host a national league game against Israel next week. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said that if France decided not to host the match, that it would be giving in to antisemitism.

Europe is experiencing a surge in antisemitic attacks, in part driven by the war in Gaza, the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency reported this summer. In September, a gunman was shot dead in Germany after opening fire near the Israeli consulate in Munich, an attack authorities said they thought had antisemitic motives.

In October last year, in the early days of the war, hundreds of rioters stormed a Russian airport in the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan and ran onto the tarmac after calls on social media to block a flight from Tel Aviv.

Israel’s newly appointed foreign minster, Gideon Saar, said Friday that he would immediately visit the Netherlands, his first trip in the role. “Barbaric anti-Semitism is once again raising its ugly head on European soil,” he wrote on X.

Steffen Seibert, Germany’s ambassador to Israel, wrote on social media that, as a European, he was “ashamed to see such scenes in one of our great cities.”

“Chasing and beating up Israeli soccer fans is not anti-war protest. It is criminal and intolerable and we must all stand against it,” he wrote.

Morris reported from Berlin, Han from Seoul and Rom from Tel Aviv. Lior Soroka and Heidi Levine in Tel Aviv, and Imogen Piper and Adela Suliman in London contributed.