Israel will pick up football fans from Amsterdam after apparent anti-Semitic attacks

By Enas Alashray and Bart H. Meijer

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Israel sent two planes on Friday to bring back fans of an Israeli football team from the Netherlands after overnight street attacks that officials described as anti-Semitic.

Videos circulating on social media showed riot police intervening in street clashes, with some attackers shouting anti-Israel slurs.

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv were “attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks” and that riot police had to intervene several times to protect them and escort them to hotels.

Anti-Semitic incidents in the Netherlands have increased dramatically since Israel launched its attack on Gaza following the attacks on Israel by the Palestinian Hamas group on October 7, 2023, with many Jewish organizations and schools reporting threats and hate mail.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the order to send planes was taken after “a very violent incident” targeting Israeli citizens after the match between Maccabi and Ajax Amsterdam, traditionally identified as a Jewish club.

An eyewitness recorded video verified by Reuters showing a group of men running near Amsterdam’s central station, chasing and attacking other men as police sirens sounded.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he was “shocked by the anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli civilians”, which he called “completely unacceptable”.

Schoof assured Netanyahu by phone that “the perpetrators will be identified and prosecuted,” he said in a statement on the social media platform X.

Anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders, chairman of the largest party in the Dutch government, said he was “ashamed that this could happen in the Netherlands”.

ISRAEL SAYS VIOLENCE REMINDERS EUROPEAN POGROMS

Police said 57 suspects were arrested after the match as pro-Palestinian demonstrators tried to reach the Johan Cruyff Arena, even though the city had banned a protest there.

They said fans had left the stadium without incident after the Europa League match, which Ajax won 5-0, but clashes broke out in the city center overnight.

President Isaac Herzog was among senior Israeli politicians who said the violence was a reminder of the attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen last year, as well as the attacks on European Jews in the pogroms of previous centuries.

“We see with horror this morning the shocking images and videos that we have hoped never to see again since October 7: an anti-Semitic pogrom currently taking place against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and Israeli citizens in the heart of Amsterdam,” he said. wrote on X.

Israel’s top-selling newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Israeli fans as saying the attacks appeared to be planned.

The Israeli military said it was sending cargo planes to the Netherlands, along with medical and rescue teams, in coordination with the Dutch government.

The Gaza war has sparked protests in support of both sides across Europe and the United States, and both Jews and Arabs have been attacked.

In March, Herzog’s opening of a new Holocaust museum in Amsterdam sparked violent protests from pro-Palestinian activists.

More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed and 102,000 others injured during Israel’s military offensive on Gaza in response to the Hamas attack, according to health officials in the enclave, after the Palestinian militant group killed 1,200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostages, according to reports. Israel.

Amsterdam officials were due to hold a press conference at 12:00 (11:00 GMT).

(Reporting by Enas Alashray in Cairo, Ahmed Elimam in Dubai; additional reporting by Emily Rose in Jerusalem and Mahezabin Syed in Bangalore; Writing by Michael Georgy and Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Lincoln Feast, Michael Perry and Kevin Liffey)