This is a developing story.
Israel said it had dispatched two planes to Amsterdam early Friday morning to extricate Israeli soccer fans beset by mobs after a game between Ajax, a local team, and Maccabi Tel Aviv, an Israeli team.
Amsterdam police said on Friday morning that five people had been taken to the hospital and 62 had been arrested in the violence, which Dutch, Israeli, European and U.S. officials all denounced as antisemitic.
After appeals circulated for information on missing fans, Israel’s Foreign Ministry reportedly said it had successfully made contact with all Israelis in Amsterdam.
The city of Amsterdam said rioters had “actively sought out Israeli supporters to attack and assault them” and said it would dispatch additional security to Jewish institutions. The city is home to the Anne Frank House, where Anne Frank and her family hid before being rooted out and murdered during the Holocaust, as well as a new Holocaust museum, the country’s first.
In a press conference, the city’s mayor, Femke Halsema, said “antisemitic hit-and-run squads” had attacked Israeli soccer fans. “This is a very dark moment for the city, for which I am deeply ashamed,” she said.
Videos that circulated on social media and were shared by the Israeli embassy in the United States showed Israelis being beaten, fleeing attackers and, in one case, being rammed by a car. Video posted on social media, including some apparently posted by assailants, showed young men chasing and beating people, shouting, “F— Israel” and “Free Palestine.”
Israeli fans told outlets in Israel that they were ambushed by people believed to be of Arab origin as they left the game, which Ajax won 5-0. Police intervened to escort Maccabi fans to their hotels.
Naftali Bennett, the former Israeli prime minister, appealed to Dutch authorities to intervene, calling what was happening a “pogrom in action.” Israeli officials urged Israelis in Amsterdam to remain in their homes or hotel rooms and to obscure any signifiers of their national or Jewish identity. In the wake of the mob violence, Israel’s National Security Council instructed Maccabi Tel Aviv fans not to attend the team’s Friday match in Bologna, Italy, for fear of copycat attacks.
The Dutch prime minister, Dick Schoof, condemned what he called “utterly outrageous and abhorrent antisemitic attacks on Israeli citizens in Amsterdam.”
The incident elicited widespread comparisons to the Holocaust and other antisemitic persecution in Europe. The Maccabi Tel Aviv fan group tweeted that it was “thinking about what happened in the Holocaust and in other historic eras and understanding that nothing has changed.”
Deborah Lipstadt, a Holocaust historian who serves as the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, noted the proximity to the anniversary of Kristallnacht and said in a statement that she was “horrified by the attacks tonight in Amsterdam, which are terribly reminiscent of a classic pogrom.” Lipstadt called on the Dutch government to investigate the events and why they went on for as long as reports on the ground suggested.
The violence unfolded after more than a day of escalating tensions in Amsterdam. The city’s police force had said that it was taking extra precautions in advance of the soccer match, which had drawn thousands of Israeli fans to the city, and had banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration planned for Dam Square, Amsterdam’s main central square.
Video showed police intervening to prevent clashes after hundreds of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans gathered in Dam Square before the game, which took place at an arena in the city’s south. A local news channel showed the fans singing “Hava Nagila.”
Videos on social media appeared to show Israelis removing a Palestinian flag from an Amsterdam building and Maccabi Tel Aviv fans descending an escalator while chanting in Hebrew, “Let the IDF win, f— the Arabs.”
The incident prompted a forceful response from Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with his military secretary and the minister of foreign affairs and decided to intervene, according to a statement posted early Friday morning by Netanyahu’s office.
“The Prime Minister has directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to assist our citizens,” the statement said. “The harsh pictures of the assault on our citizens in Amsterdam will not be overlooked. Prime Minister Netanyahu views the horrifying incident with utmost gravity and demands that the Dutch government and security forces take vigorous and swift action against the rioters, and ensure the safety of our citizens.”
After initially saying it was involved in the mission, which it said had been coordinated with the Dutch government, the Israeli army said it would not be dispatched to Amsterdam. But it announced that IDF soldiers may not travel to the Netherlands without specific authorization.
The leader of the Netherlands’ far-right Party for Freedom, Geert Wilders, denounced the incident on social media. Wilders, a hard-right populist known for crusading against Islam and immigrants, led his party to success in last year’s national elections.
“Looks like a Jew hunt in the streets of Amsterdam,” Wilders tweeted. “Arrest and deport the multicultural scum that attacked Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters in our streets. Ashamed that this can happen in The Netherlands. Totally unacceptable.”
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, tweeted that she was “outraged by last night’s vile attacks targeting Israeli citizens in Amsterdam” and said she had spoken to Schoof. She added, “I strongly condemn these unacceptable acts. Antisemitism has absolutely no place in Europe.”
In the United States, Rep. Brad Sherman, a Jewish Democrat from California, tweeted that he and other Jewish members of Congress would be discussing the Amsterdam violence on Friday with the Dutch ambassador.
In a statement after the match, Ajax said the game itself had a “good atmosphere” and added that it was “horrified to learn what happened in the centre of Amsterdam last night. We strongly condemn this violence.”
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