Israeli soccer fans attacked in Amsterdam in violence condemned as antisemitic

AMSTERDAM —  Israeli fans were assaulted after a soccer game in Amsterdam by hordes of young people apparently riled up by calls on social media to target Jewish people, Dutch authorities said Friday.

Five people were treated at hospitals and dozens were arrested after the attacks, which were condemned as antisemitic by authorities in Amsterdam, Israel and across Europe.

Reports of antisemitic speech, vandalism and violence have been on the rise in Europe since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last year, and tensions mounted in Amsterdam ahead of Thursday night’s match between the Dutch team Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators were banned by local authorities from gathering outside the stadium, and video showed a large crowd of Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans on their way to the game.

Before the game, large crowds of supporters of the Israeli team could be seen on video chanting anti-Arab slogans as they headed to the stadium, escorted by police.

“Let the IDF win, and [expletive] the Arabs,” the fans chanted, using the acronym of the Israeli military, as they shook their fists. It also showed police pushing several pro-Palestinian protesters away from a Maccabi fan gathering in a square earlier in the day.

Afterward, youths on scooters and on foot crisscrossed the city in search of Israeli fans, punching and kicking them and then fleeing quickly to evade police, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said.

On the social media platform Telegram, “there is talk of people going on a Jew hunt,” Halsema said. “That is so shocking and so despicable that I still cannot fathom it.” Dutch Minister of Justice and Security David van Weel vowed to track down and prosecute the perpetrators.

Police had to escort some fans back to hotels, according to authorities.

Ofek Ziv, a Maccabi fan from the Israeli city of Petah Tikva, said someone threw a rock that hit him in the head, causing light bleeding, as he and a friend left the stadium. He said a group of men began to chase him, before he and his friend got into a taxi, picking up other fans. They took shelter at a hotel.

“I’m very scared. It’s very striking,” Ziv said. “And the police didn’t come to help us.”

Another Israeli fan, Alyia Cohen, said upon arriving back in Israel that he would go back to Amsterdam for future matches. “We are not afraid of anything. Ours is the people of Israel.”

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

A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he “views the horrifying incident with utmost gravity.” He demanded that the Dutch government take “vigorous and swift action” against those involved.

Condemnation of the violence as antisemitic poured in from around Europe.

“Antisemitism has absolutely no place in Europe, and we are determined to fight it and to fight all forms of hatred,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission. “We want Jewish life and culture to thrive in Europe.”

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof condemned the violence and flew home early from a European Union summit in Hungary.

The attacks shattered Amsterdam’s long-cherished view of itself as a beacon of tolerance and haven for persecuted religions, including Sephardic Jews from Portugal and Spain who fled to the city centuries ago.

Police said security will be beefed up at Jewish institutions in the city that has a large Jewish community and was home to Jewish World War II diarist Anne Frank and her family as they hid from Nazi occupiers.

Halsema called the violence “an eruption of antisemitism that we had hoped never again to see in Amsterdam.”

Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, flew to Amsterdam on Friday and in a message on X said that hatred of Jews is “appearing in place after place after place.”

Saar met with the Dutch minister for security and justice, pledging Israeli help in the investigation, and also held talks with Geert Wilders, a far right, anti-Islam lawmaker whose party won national elections last year.

Amsterdam police spokeswoman Sara Tillart said it was too early in their investigation to say if anybody other than soccer fans was targeted. Authorities outlawed demonstrations across the city for the weekend and gave police extra powers to frisk people.

Israel’s government initially ordered two planes sent to Amsterdam to bring fans home, but Netanyahu’s office later said it would work to help citizens arrange commercial flights.

The Israel-Hamas war began after Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others.

Israel’s airstrikes and ground invasion in Gaza have destroyed much of the territory and killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say at least half of those killed were women and children. Negotiations aimed at a cease-fire and return of the remaining hostages from Gaza have been unsuccessful.

In Amsterdam, tensions had been brewing for days ahead of the match. A Palestinian flag was torn down from a building in Amsterdam on Wednesday, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported, and authorities banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration near the stadium.

Security issues around hosting games against visiting Israeli teams led the Belgian soccer federation to decline to stage a men’s Nations League game in September. That game against Israel was played in Hungary with no fans in the stadium.

The violence in Amsterdam will no doubt lead to a review of security at upcoming matches involving Israeli teams. European soccer body UEFA announced already on Monday that Maccabi’s next Europa League match, scheduled in Istanbul on Nov. 28 against Turkish team Besiktas, would be moved to a yet-to-be-decided neutral venue.

Italian police said security was increased for Maccabi Tel Aviv’s basketball game at Virtus Bologna on Friday night, both for fans and for the Maccabi team.

Meanwhile, Israel’s national soccer team is scheduled to play France in Paris on Nov. 14 in the Nations League. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said Thursday that the match would go ahead as planned.

“I think that for a symbolic reason we must not yield, we must not give up,” he said, noting that sports fans from around the world came together for the Paris Olympics this year to celebrate the “universal values” of sports.

Corder writes for the Associated Press. AP 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.