Israeli football fans back home after Amsterdam violence

TEL AVIV: A plane carrying Israeli football supporters brought home from Amsterdam by the government landed today at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport as authorities condemned a night of “hateful antisemitic” violence.

Dutch police said 62 arrests were made as a result of the clashes, which erupted after a Europa League football tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered two planes be sent to the Netherlands to bring the Israeli fans home, with the first flight of evacuees landing this afternoon, the Israel Airports Authority said.

Netanyahu also ordered Israel’s Mossad spy agency to draw up a plan to prevent unrest at sporting events in the future.

Amsterdam’s mayor said the city had been “deeply damaged” by “hateful antisemitic rioters” who hunted down and attacked fans of Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv in a night of “unbearable” violence.

Femke Halsema described gangs on scooters targeting fans of the Israeli club, beating and kicking them in “hit-and-run” assaults, leaving five people hospitalised.

“I can easily understand that this brings back memories of pogroms,” Halsema said, adding that she was “ashamed” by the violence.

“Our city has been deeply damaged. Jewish culture has been deeply threatened. This is an outburst of antisemitism that I hope to never see again.”

Despite a “sporting” atmosphere in the ground and a huge police presence, authorities were unable to stop the rapid attacks on fans in several parts of the city.

Officers made 62 arrests in total but police chief Peter Holla said the hit-and-run tactics of the rioters made it “exceptionally” difficult to prevent the attacks.

He said that 800 officers had been deployed, a very large number for Amsterdam, adding: “We spent weeks preparing” for the match.

Halsema announced tightened security measures in the city, including a temporary ban on demonstrations, stepped-up police deployments and extra protection for key institutions.

Tensions were already running high, with “incidents on both sides” on Wednesday, 24 hours before the match, according to Holla.

He said Maccabi supporters had “removed a flag from a facade on the Rokin and they destroyed a taxi”.

“A Palestinian flag was set on fire on the Dam,” he added, referring to Amsterdam’s central square.

Israeli president Isaac Herzog condemned the clashes and said the “shocking images” of a “pogrom” were reminiscent of last year’s Hamas attack on Israel, which sparked the Gaza war.

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

The Israeli military said it had banned all its personnel from travelling to the Netherlands until further notice.

Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof denounced the “terrible antisemitic attack”.

“We will not tolerate (it). We will prosecute the perpetrators. And I’m deeply ashamed that this could happen in the Netherlands in 2024,” Schoof told reporters on the sidelines of an EU leaders’ meeting in Budapest.

Netanyahu’s office earlier said he told Schoof that he “views the premeditated antisemitic attack against Israeli citizens with utmost seriousness and requested increased security for the Jewish community in the Netherlands”.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said she was “outraged” by “vile attacks targeting Israeli citizens in Amsterdam”.

“Antisemitism has absolutely no place in Europe. And we are determined to fight all forms of hatred,” she added.

French president Emmanuel Macron said: “The violence against Israeli citizens in Amsterdam recalls history’s darkest hours. I strongly condemn it and express my sympathy for the injured.”

In scenes that showed the tensions, unverified video on social media purportedly filmed yesterday appeared to show some Maccabi fans chanting in Hebrew: “Finish the Arabs! We’re going to win!”

Israeli authorities urged their citizens in Amsterdam to stay in their hotels and avoid showing Israeli or Jewish symbols if they went outside.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said he had requested the Dutch government’s assistance in ensuring Israeli citizens’ safe passage from their hotels to the airport to take the rescue flights.

A pro-Palestinian rally against the Israeli football club’s visit was initially scheduled to take place near the stadium yesterday, but was relocated by Amsterdam city council for security reasons.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s Oct 7 attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history.

The world has since seen a spike in antisemitic attacks to levels unseen in years, as well as a wave of solidarity with Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,508 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

In another potential football flashpoint, France are scheduled to play Israel in Paris next Thursday.

France’s interior minister said the match would go ahead as planned.