Israel sends evacuation planes to Amsterdam after ‘shocking’ attack on Israeli soccer fans
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday asked his counterpart in the Netherlands to provide more security for Israelis after fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv FC soccer team were attacked in Amsterdam on Thursday by anti-Israel protesters.
The violence erupted following a UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli air carrier El Al is sending planes to Amsterdam on Shabbat to evacuate Israelis, after the Israeli Defense Forces said it was standing down on a plan to “immediately deploy a rescue mission” to the city.
Officials in the Netherlands say 20 to 30 people were injured in the attacks.
“The police have launched a major investigation into multiple violent incidents. So far, it is known that five people have been taken to the hospital and 62 individuals have been arrested,” Amsterdam Police said in a statement.
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“The Antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam are despicable and echo dark moments in history when Jews were persecuted,” President Biden said on X. “We’ve been in touch with Israeli and Dutch officials and appreciate Dutch authorities’ commitment to holding the perpetrators accountable. We must relentlessly fight Antisemitism, wherever it emerges.”
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema called the violence “an eruption of antisemitism that we had hoped never again to see in Amsterdam,” according to The Associated Press.
She reportedly said youths in the city were riding around on scooters in search of Israeli fans, before punching and kicking them and fleeing quickly to avoid law enforcement.
Ofek Ziv, a Maccabi fan from the Israeli city of Petah Tikva, told the AP that someone threw a rock that hit him in the head as he and a friend left the stadium. They fled the area in a taxi.
“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.
Speaking with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof after the violence, Netanyahu said he takes the “premeditated attacks” seriously. He urged Schoof to bolster security for Israelis in the country.
Israel has also added more phone lines at the embassy and in the Foreign Ministry’s situation room.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called Thursday’s attacks the most alarming thing to happen to Jews since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel.
“We woke up this morning to shocking images and videos that since October 7th, we had hoped never to see again: an antisemitic pogrom currently taking place against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and Israeli citizens in the heart of Amsterdam, Netherlands,” Herzog wrote on X.
“This is a serious incident, a warning sign for any country that wishes to uphold the values of freedom.”
There are reports that some fans were chanting anti-Arab slogans before the game. In one social media video that Reuters says it has verified, the traveling Maccabi fans were seen setting off flares and chanting “Ole, ole, let the IDF win, we will f–k the Arabs,” in an apparent reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it “strongly condemns the anti-Arab slogans and hostile actions carried out by supporters of an Israeli football club in Amsterdam.
“These acts included the desecration and removal of the Palestinian flag from symbolic sites that signify solidarity with Palestinian rights and resistance against the ongoing occupation and systematic violence in Gaza,” it added.
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The Dutch prime minister on Friday called the “antisemitic” attacks on Israeli soccer fans “unacceptable” and said the “perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted.”
Videos on social media showed multiple fights happening in the streets outside the stadium where Maccabi Tel Aviv FC was playing Ajax. Days earlier, Spanish media reported that anti-Israel agitators would protest outside the stadium to target Israel’s soccer club and its fans.
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“We have become the Gaza of Europe,” populist Dutch political leader Geert Wilders of the anti-Muslim immigration Freedom Party in the Netherlands said following the attacks.
“Muslims with Palestinian flags hunting down Jews. I will NOT accept that. NEVER,” he wrote on X. “The authorities will be held accountable for their failure to protect the Israeli citizens. Never again.”
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The IDF has barred soldiers from flying to Amsterdam, but “exceptional requests will be examined individually,” the military stated.
Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.