reuters_tickers
By Enas El Ashry and Bart Mayer
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Israel sent two planes to the Netherlands on Friday to repatriate hundreds of <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2024/11/riots-city-of-amsterdam-israeli-football-fans-targeted/" title="Riots: City of Amsterdam: Israeli football fans targeted”>Israeli soccer fans after attacks on Thursday night in the streets of Amsterdam that officials described as anti-Semitic, despite evidence of those fans chanting provocative slogans.
Video clips circulated on social media showed riot police intervening in clashes in which some of the attackers chanted anti-Israel statements. But some footage also showed Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans before the match on Thursday evening.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsma said on Friday that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were “attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks” and that riot police intervened to protect them and escort them to hotels. She added that at least five people received treatment in hospital.
The authorities tightened security measures in the city, where hundreds gathered on Thursday to commemorate the “Night of Broken Glass” massacre committed by the Nazis against Jews across Germany on November 9 and 10, 1938.
Incidents of anti-Semitism have increased in the Netherlands since Israel launched its attack on Gaza following an attack by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Israel on October 7 last year, and many Jewish organizations and schools reported receiving threats and hate messages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the order to send the two planes came after a “very violent incident” targeting Israeli citizens following the match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Ajax Amsterdam is often described as a Jewish club.
“This is a serious incident that represents a warning signal to any country that wishes to adhere to the values of freedom,” the office said.
A video clip verified by Reuters showed a group of men running near Amsterdam Central Station, chasing other people and beating them, while police car sirens were blaring.
But another verified video showed Maccabi fans lighting fireworks and chanting, “Victory for the Israeli army, we will eliminate the Arabs.”
Dutch Prime Minister Dijk Schauff said he was “appalled by the anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli citizens.” “This is completely unacceptable,” he stressed.
He added that he assured Netanyahu in a phone call that “the perpetrators will be identified and prosecuted.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with Dutch King Willem-Alexander, who he said “expressed terrible terror and shock at the criminal acts committed.”
Herzog quoted the king as saying that the Netherlands failed to help its Jewish community during World War II under Nazi occupation and persecution, and again on Thursday.
