Anti-Semitic clashes erupt in Amsterdam after football match

Football fans were attacked in a spate of “unacceptable” anti-Semitic clashes at a popular European tourist destination.

Pro-Palestinians demonstrate at Amsterdam's Anton de Komplein square ahead of the UEFA Europa League football match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv on November 7, 2024. (Photo by Jeroen Jumelet / ANP / AFP)

Israel has sent rescue planes to pick up citizens after Israeli football fans were attacked in Amsterdam.

Violence broke out after a Europa League match between Dutch club Ajax and Israel’s Maccabi Tel-Aviv, during which the home team won 5-0.

At least 62 people were arrested and five people were taken to hospital after Israeli football fans were assaulted on the streets.

Videos of some of the anti-Semitic attacks were put online and included footage of one man being punched unconscious and another fan being told to say “free Palestine”.

A supporter waves a Palestinian flag in front of Police officers from Mobile Unit (ME) during a pro-Palestinian demonstration.

Police officers from the Mobile Unit (ME) secure during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the sideline of the UEFA Europa League football match.

However other videos have emerged appearing to show Maccabi fans chanting racist slogans about Arabs and Palestine.

There were also reports that a Palestinian flag was torn down from a building.

Footage from the stadium also appeared to show Maccabi fans jeering and whistling during a minute’s silence for those killed in floods in Valencia.

One Maccabi fan, Adi Reuben, told the BBC that he was kicked on the floor by a group of men.

“Last night we got off the metro station and started walking towards the Mozart hotel where we were staying,” he said.

“More than 10 men who looked Arab or Turkish just came up to me and my friends and asked us ‘where are you from’. They shouted ‘Jewish, Jewish, IDF, IDF’.

“They started to mess with me and I realised I had to run, but it was dark and I didn’t know where to go.

“I fell to the floor and ten people were kicking me. They were shouting ‘Falestin’ [Palestine]. They were kicking me on the floor for about a minute, then they walked off, they weren’t afraid of anything

“I realised I had full blood on my nose and my nose was broken and it is very painful. I also couldn’t see well for about 30 minutes after it happened.

“I am getting on an Israeli plane which came to rescue us this afternoon and will get medical treatment back home.”

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof denounced the “completely unacceptable anti-Semitic attacks on Israelis”.

“I followed with horror the coverage from Amsterdam,” 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 Netanyahu ordered rescue planes to the Netherlands to transport the Israeli fans back home.

Netanyahu’s office said he told 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.

AT5 said that numerous fights, as well as acts of vandalism, had occurred in the city centre.

Maccabi supporters wave yellow flags next to Israeli flags during the UEFA Europa League.

“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”.

The Israeli embassy blamed the incident on a ‘mob who targeted innocent Israelis’.

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.

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.

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 co-ordinating 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.

Originally published as Anti-Semitic clashes erupt in Amsterdam after football match