The Mayor of Amsterdam said emergency measures will now be in place after a night of violent clashes in the city.
Femke Halsema said Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were “attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks” and that riot police intervened to protect them and escort them to hotels.
Videos on social media showed riot police intervening in clashes, with some attackers shouting anti-Israeli slurs. It was also reported that Israeli supporters were chanting anti-Arab slogans before the Europa League match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said there was an order to send planes to rescue football fans from the Dutch capital was taken after “a very violent incident”.
Mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema attends a press conference following a night of violence
Reuters
Halsema told a news conference: “This is a very dark moment for the city, for which I am deeply ashamed. Anti-semitic criminals attacked and assaulted visitors to our city, in hit-and-run actions.
“I understand very well that this brings back memories of violent riots, and that for this to happen in Amsterdam, is unbearable and indigestible. Last night, not only people were injured. Our history, the history of our city has been deeply damaged.
“Our Jewish life, our Jewish culture, is under threat, and these are an indispensable and inalienable part of our city…Yesterday there was an outburst of anti-Semitism such as we had hoped to see no more in Amsterdam.
“And I am furious and on behalf of the city council and on behalf of the Driehoek I express the strongest condemnation of the violence that has taken place. Among our Jewish Amsterdam residents there is fear, dismay, anger, disbelief.”
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Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters demonstrate and light flares in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Reuters
Antisemitic incidents have surged in the Netherlands since Israel launched its assault on Gaza after the attacks on Israel by the Palestinian Hamas group on October 7, 2023, with many Jewish organisations and schools reporting threats and hate mail.
Tensions had been bubbling in the Dutch capital through the week as around 3,000 supporters of the Israeli club arrived in the city. Dutch Police Chief Peter Holla told a press conference Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters attacked a taxi and set a Palestinian flag on fire on Wednesday.
Footage shared on social media shows football supporters pulling down a Palestinian flag in central Amsterdam with anti-Palestine chants could also be heard.
A video showed Maccabi fans setting off flares and chanting “Ole, ole, let the IDF win, we will f*** the Arabs”, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
A fan opens a Trump banner as fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv stage a pro-Israel demonstration at the Dam Square, Getty
Israeli football supporters and Dutch youth clash near Amsterdam Central stationReutersThe Israeli embassy in The Hague said mobs had chanted anti-Israel slogans and shared videos of their violence on social media, “kicking, beating, even running over Israeli citizens”.
“On the eve of Kristallnacht — when Jews in Nazi Germany faced brutal attacks — it is horrifying to witness antisemitic violence on the streets of Europe once again,” it said.
Dutch politician Geert Wilders wrote on social media: “We have become the Gaza of Europe. Muslims with Palestinian flags hunting down Jews. I will NOT accept that. NEVER. The authorities will be held accountable for their failure to protect the Israeli citizens. Never again.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with Dutch King Willem-Alexander, who he said had “expressed deep horror and shock over the criminal acts committed” adding: “We see with horror this morning, the shocking images and videos that since October 7, 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.”
A Palestinian man walks through the rubble at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Gaza
Reuters
It comes as the UN Human Rights Office said nearly 70 per cent of the fatalities it has verified in the Gaza war were women and children, and condemned what it called a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.
The UN tally since the start of the war, in which Israel’s military is fighting Hamas militants, includes only fatalities it has managed to verify with three sources, and counting continues.
The 8,119 victims verified is a much lower number than the toll of over 43,000 provided by Palestinian health authorities for the 13-month-old war.
However, the UN breakdown of the victims’ age and gender backs the Palestinian assertion that women and children represent a large portion of those killed in the war. The report says the finding indicates “a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality.”