Police officers from the Mobile Unit (ME) secure during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the sideline of the UEFA Europa League football match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv, in Amsterdam on November 7, 2024
| Photo Credit: AFP
Israeli and Dutch leaders on Friday (November 8, 2024) condemned “anti-Semitic” clashes that erupted after a Europa League football match in Amsterdam overnight, with Israel sending rescue planes for their citizens.
The violence flared after the game between Maccabi Tel-Aviv and home team Ajax, which won 5-0.
A Dutch police spokesperson told ANP news agency that 57 people had been arrested without further details.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof denounced the “completely unacceptable anti-Semitic attacks on Israelis”.
“I followed with horror the coverage from Amsterdam,” Mr. Schoof wrote on X, adding that he had spoken with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to assure him that “the perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted”.
The pair spoke after Mr. Netanyahu ordered rescue planes to the Netherlands to transport the Israeli fans back home.
Mr. Netanyahu’s office said he told Mr. Schoof that he “views the premeditated anti-Semitic attack against Israeli citizens with utmost seriousness and requested increased security for the Jewish community in the Netherlands”, his office said.
Dutch media AT5 said the clashes occurred around midnight. Social media platforms were flooded with unverified images purported to be of the violence, but confirmed details of the clashes were few.
AT5 said that numerous fights, as well as acts of vandalism, had occurred in the city centre.
“A large number of mobile unit vehicles are present and reinforcements have also been called in,” it said. “Young people also allegedly provoked the police”.
Images on AT5 showed Dutch police escorting fans back to their hotels.
The Israeli embassy in the United States said “hundreds” of Maccabi fans were “ambushed and attacked in Amsterdam tonight as they left the stadium following a game”.
In its post on social media platform X, the embassy blamed the incident on a “mob who targeted innocent Israelis”.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog called on the Dutch government “to protect, locate, and rescue all Israelis and Jews under attack”.
“We see the 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, Netherlands,” Herzog said in a statement.
Rescue mission
Israeli authorities urged their citizens in Amsterdam to stay in their hotels and avoid showing Israeli or Jewish symbols if they do go outside.
The army said it was coordinating a “rescue mission” with cargo aircraft and medical and rescue teams.
Israel’s new foreign minister Gideon Saar said in a statement that he had requested the Dutch government’s assistance in ensuring Israeli citizens’ safe exit from their hotels to the airport.
On Thursday, Amsterdam police said on social media that they were being particularly vigilant in the wake of several incidents, including the tearing down of a Palestinian flag from a building.
A pro-Palestinian rally demonstrating against the Israeli football club’s visit was initially scheduled to take place near the stadium but was relocated by the Amsterdam city council for security reasons.
The violence took place with anti-Israeli sentiment and reported anti-Semitic acts across the world soaring as Israel wages wars against Iran-backed militants in Lebanon and in Gaza, which have seen massive civilian casualties.
Published – November 08, 2024 03:09 pm IST