Israeli football fans were attacked in Amsterdam. The violence was condemned as anti-Semitic

Authorities said police had to escort some fans back to hotels.

Ofek Ziv, a Maccabi fan from the Israeli town of Petah Tikva, said someone – he did not see who – threw a stone at him as he and a friend left the stadium. He was hit in the head, causing minor bleeding. He said a group of Arab men began chasing him before he and his friend got into a taxi to pick up other fans. They took shelter in a hotel.

“I’m very scared, it’s very striking. This should not happen to anyone, and certainly not in Amsterdam. Many friends were injured, injured, kidnapped and robbed, and the police did not come to help us,” he said.

Another fan, Alyia Cohen, said he and his friends were approached by some hostile men as they returned to their hotel after the game. Because the group was not wearing Maccabi shirts, “they did not recognize that we are Israelis… Nothing happened to us, but there was a big chaos there that we did not expect.”

When he returned to Israel, he said he would go back for further matches. “We are not afraid of anything, we are the people of Israel.”

Amsterdam police spokeswoman Sara Tillart said it was too early in the investigation to say whether people other than football fans were targeted.

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

With the violence condemned from across Europe as anti-Semitic, the attacks shattered Amsterdam’s long-held image of itself as a beacon of tolerance and refuge for persecuted religions, including Sephardic Jews from Portugal and Spain centuries ago.

Halsema called the violence “an outburst of anti-Semitism that we had hoped we would never see again in Amsterdam.”

The violence reverberated intensely in Israel and across Europe. Israel’s foreign minister left for an urgent trip to the Netherlands, and the government initially ordered two planes to be 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 images of the attack on our citizens in Amsterdam will not be overlooked,” and that Netanyahu “views the horrific incident with the utmost seriousness.” He demanded that the Dutch government take ‘strong and swift action’ against those involved.

Maccabi’s CEO, Ben Mansford, spoke to the press at Israel’s international airport as some fans returned. “Many people went to watch a football match … to support Israel, to support the Star of David,” he said. That they are under attack, “those are very sad times for all of us, given the last year we’ve had.”

The extent of the attacks on Thursday evening and where and when they took place was not clear. There had been tensions for days.

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

Before the match, video showed large crowds of Israeli team supporters chanting anti-Arab slogans as they made their way to the stadium, escorted by police.

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

De Beukelaer said the police are investigating “to what extent an organization is behind the attacks on Israeli fans,” adding: “I don’t have enough evidence for that at the moment.”

Security concerns surrounding the organization of matches against visiting Israeli teams prompted the Belgian football federation to refuse to organize a men’s Nations League match in September. That match against Israel was played in Hungary without fans in the stadium.

Israel was expelled from the Asian Football Confederation in the 1970s after Arab countries refused to play against Israel. Israel played in the European qualifying for the 1982 World Cup and has been a member of the European football association UEFA since 1994.

The violence in Amsterdam will undoubtedly lead to a review of security at upcoming matches involving Israeli teams. European football body UEFA announced on Monday that Maccabi’s next Europa League match, scheduled in Istanbul on November 28 against Turkish team Besiktas, would be moved to a yet-to-be-determined neutral venue “following a decision by the Turkish authorities. ”

Meanwhile, the Israeli national team will play France in the Nations League in Paris on November 14. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Thursday the match would go ahead as planned at the Stade de France, just outside the French capital, after assurances from police.

“I think for a symbolic reason we should not give in, we should not give up,” he said, noting that sports fans from around the world gathered for this year’s Paris Olympics to celebrate the “universal values” of celebrate sports.

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

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Associated Press reporters Julia Frankel and Ibrahim Hazboun in Jerusalem, Lee Keath in Cairo, Graham Dunbar in Geneva and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this report.