Israeli football fans attacked by pro-Palestinian attackers in Amsterdam

Pro-Palestinian attackers attacked Israeli fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv football team on the streets of Amsterdam on Thursday evening after a match between the Israeli team and a local team, Ajax, in a series of attacks that Israeli and American leaders described as a modern attack. -day pogrom.

Early Friday morning, three Israelis were missing and at least ten were injured. Videos shared on social media showed Israelis being attacked with knives, batons and vehicles, and attackers shouting anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian slogans.

A video circulating on social media also shows dozens of Israeli football fans chanting anti-Arab slogans in Hebrew as they descend an escalator and additional videos shows Israelis removing Palestinian flags from buildings.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that he is sending two planes to the Netherlands to evacuate Israeli citizens. The IDF announced plans to send out a rescue mission, in collaboration with the Dutch government. As of Friday morning, Israel was still waiting for permission for the flights, according to Israeli media.

Netanyahu demanded action from Dutch security forces and said he had consulted top security officials.

“The harsh images of the attack on our citizens in Amsterdam will not be overlooked. Prime Minister Netanyahu views the horrific incident with the utmost seriousness and demands that the Dutch government and security forces take strong and swift action against the rioters and ensure the safety of our citizens,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

Netanyahu also spoke with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, emphasizing that the Netherlands must ensure the safety of Israeli tourists, including those who were injured, and calling for increased security for the local Jewish community.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office called the attacks a pogrom.

Schoof expressed his horror at the events in a message on Xand said these were completely unacceptable anti-Semitic attacks on Israelis.

The perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted, Schoof writes, adding that it is now calm in the capital.

Israel’s National Security Council ordered Israelis to stay in their hotel rooms and not go out on the streets for hours before telling them it is safe to go to the airport. The NSC continued to recommend covering up all signs of Israeli or Jewishness and returning to Israel as soon as possible. They also asked Israelis in Amsterdam to download the Home Front Command app, which typically sends location-based alerts about missiles and rockets launched at Israel, to receive security updates in the Netherlands.

Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Freedom Party, called the attacks a “Jew hunt,” blaming Muslims and saying the Netherlands had become the “Gaza of Europe.” to inform on X.

Arrest and deport the multicultural scum, he wrote. Ashamed that this can happen in the Netherlands.

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chiklin confirmed to Jewish Insider that his office had advance information about a possible attack on Israeli football fans, which had been sent to Dutch law enforcement in advance.

Although the Amsterdam police were on edge prior to the football match and accompanied Israeli fans from the stadium to Dam Square, where many of their hotels were located, law enforcement authorities in Amsterdam were slow to respond to the violence, Israeli public broadcaster Kan said. After the riots broke out, police diverted dozens of Israeli football fans. fans to another location.

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, anti-Semitism envoy of the US Department of State, said she was “shocked by the attacks tonight in Amsterdam, which are terribly reminiscent of a classic pogrom.”

“I am also deeply disturbed by how long the reported attacks have lasted and call on the government to conduct a thorough investigation into the intervention of the security forces and how these despicable attacks came about,” Lipstadt continued. “In a terrible historical irony, this happens two days before the grim anniversary of the 1938 Reichspogrom Night, when Nazi-sanctioned and led pogroms against Jews broke out across the German Empire.”

US lawmakers also condemned the attacks on Israeli fans.

Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), the co-chair of the Senate Anti-Semitism Task Force, said she was “shocked” by the attacks.

“Jews face violence and terror because of who they are, and we must condemn it all in the strongest terms,” Rosen said. “Ahead of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the world cannot remain silent as anti-Semitism rears its ugly head.

Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) called the scenes “despicable.”

“After the Holocaust we said: Never again, and yet here we are almost 80 years later,” Britt continued. “I pray for the Jewish people worldwide.”

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) said he and a group of Jewish members plan to discuss the matter with the Dutch ambassador to the United States on Friday.

“This is outrageous,” Sherman said. “The Dutch government must protect Jews from these attacks and prosecute the attackers.”

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) said the attacks amount to ‘nothing less than a pogrom’.

“Dutch law enforcement must immediately stop these targeted attacks on Jews,” Goldman said. “Anti-Semitism is spreading all over the world. Anyone who opposes hate must speak out.”

So does Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY). described the attack as a ‘pogrom’.

“The hysterical and hyperbolic demonization of Israel has led to a global outbreak of anti-Semitic vitriol, vandalism and violence. The most monstrous expression of anti-Semitism is a pogrom currently unfolding against hundreds of Jews who cheered on the Tel Aviv football club in Amsterdam,” Torres said. “Those who incited anti-Semitism now have the blood of a 21st century pogrom on their hands.

Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD), marked that the attack takes place days before the anniversary of Kristallnacht.

“Jews are once again facing anti-Semitism and vicious attacks in Europe,” Hoyer said. “I am deeply disturbed by the reports from Amsterdam and I will continue to work to stop the rise of anti-Semitism around the world and in America.”

Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY) said he was “shocked” and that “we must ensure that our Jewish brothers and sisters here in the United States are protected.”

Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) connected those describing the attack as a pogrom and questioning the apparent lack of police response seen in videos. He said lawmakers would “demand answers” ​​from the Dutch embassy.

Jason Greenblatt, an official in the first Trump administration, said that the incident “should be at the top of the agenda” when Dutch officials seek meetings with the new Trump administration, adding that the current administration “needs to (jump on) this now.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said that “this is exactly what ‘globalizing the intifada’ looks like.”

“Hate-filled people who chase and attack innocent Israeli football fans, whom they have dehumanized as ‘Zionists,’ and hunt down and brutalize ordinary people who only came to Amsterdam to enjoy a football match,” Greenblatt continued. “We demand that the Dutch authorities do everything necessary to guarantee the safety of Israeli fans, make efforts to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators, and apologize for this obscene, unprovoked violence.”

Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the incident highlights the need to “deport radical Islamists who are not U.S. citizens,” a focus of newly elected President Donald Trump and other Republicans’ messaging around anti-Semitism and anti-Israel protests in the U.S.

Dubowitz said such individuals endanger all moderates and that “if we do nothing, our cities risk becoming like Amsterdam, Brussels, Malmö and the like, where violent extremists rule the streets.”

He warned European countries that they “risk losing your country, democracies and way of life.”

Yinam Cohen, Israeli Consul General in the Midwestern United States, said that a common thread connects the events in Amsterdam with an attack by anti-Israel demonstrators on a synagogue in Chicago the night before. He also called the attack in Amsterdam a pogrom.

“Both were committed by pro-Palestinian gangs from the Middle East, fueled by calls to ‘globalize’ the Intifada — spreading hatred and inciting violence against Jews,” Cohen said.