Israeli football fans attacked in Amsterdam, and 5 were hospitalized and a number of suspects were arrested

Amsterdam – AntiSemitic rioters “wanted Israeli fans to attack and beat them” after a football match in Amsterdam, authorities in the Netherlands said on Friday, as police reported that five people were hospitalized and dozens arrested after a night of violence that the mayor said had shamed the city. Police have not disclosed the nationalities of any of those injured or arrested after the riots in the Dutch capital.

Five people who were treated at the hospital were released, while about 20 to 30 people received minor injuries, police said. There are approximately 62 suspects arrested, 10 are still in custody, said the public prosecutor in this city, René de Beukelaer, told reporters at a press conference on Friday.

The attack was condemned by authorities in Amsterdam, Israel and across Europe as antisemitic. In the US, President Biden said that antisemitism must be fought wherever it appears.

“Antisemitic attacks on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam are disgusting and echo dark times in history when Jews were persecuted,” said Mr. Biden on social media. “We have been in contact with Israeli and Dutch officials and we appreciate the commitment of the Dutch authorities to hold the perpetrators accountable. We must fight against Antisemitism, wherever it appears.”

Police said security would be tightened at Jewish centers across the city, which has a large Jewish community and is home to World War II diarist Anne Frank and her family as they hid from Nazi occupation.

“The Israeli government said it is doing everything to ensure the safety and security of our citizens who were brutally attacked in the horrific incident against the Jews in Amsterdam,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “It was decided that it was not necessary to send a professional rescue mission to the Netherlands. Instead, the effort will focus on providing civil aviation solutions to find our citizens.”

An Israeli aviation official said a plane sent to Amsterdam to repatriate Israeli citizens after the violence returned to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Friday afternoon. The Israeli government initially ordered two planes, but Netanyahu’s office later said it would work to help citizens organize commercial flights.

Condemnation of violence poured in from all over Europe. “Antisemitism has no place in Europe, and we are determined to fight it and fight all forms of hatred,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. “We want a successful Jewish life and culture in Europe.”

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof described Friday’s violence as “a terrible anti-Semitic attack” and said he was “deeply ashamed.”

“We will not tolerate it. We will prosecute the perpetrators,” said Schoof. “I am very ashamed that this could happen in the Netherlands in 2024.”

The worst attack on supporters of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team reportedly took place after the Europa League match between their team and Ajax Amsterdam, but there were clashes between Israeli and local fans before the match.

The violence broke out despite a ban on a Palestinian protest near the football stadium put in place by Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, who feared that clashes would break out between protesters and supporters of the Israeli club.

“This is a very dark time in this city, which I am very ashamed of,” said Halsema in a press conference on Friday. “Anti-Semitic thugs attacked and assaulted tourists visiting our city, in a brutal act.”

There were also clashes before the match, as Maccabi fans were among hundreds who marched through the center of Amsterdam in protest against Israel, where flares were lit and Palestinian flags hung on some streets were torn down amid chants of “death to the Arabs. .” Tempers rose as Israel’s supporters defied a moment of silence.

After that, youths on motorcycles and on foot drove through the city looking for Israeli supporters, punching and kicking them and quickly running away from the police, Halsema said.

As CBS News correspondent Ramy Inocencio reports, bloody conflicts between rival fans surrounding football matches in Europe – called hooliganism – are not new, but since October 7, 2023, a terrorist attack by Hamas and other soldiers started a fierce war that has killed tens of thousands of people, antisemitism is on the rise across the continent and beyond.

Maccabi chief executive Ben Mansford spoke to reporters at an Israeli airport as some fans returned. “Many people went to watch the football match… to support Israel, and to support the Star of David,” he said. For them to be attacked, “those are very sad times for all of us when we look at the last year we have had.”

Netanyahu’s office has banned any members of the country’s military from flying to the Netherlands indefinitely.

“The brutal images of the attack on the citizens of Amsterdam cannot be ignored,” Netanyahu’s office said, adding that the Israeli government “views organized attacks on Israeli citizens with great gravity.”

Netanyahu’s office demanded that the Dutch government “take strong and swift action” against those involved.

Schoof said on social media that he followed reports of violence “with trepidation.”

“The Israeli attack is totally unacceptable. I am close to everyone involved,” he added, saying he had spoken with Netanyahu and “he stressed that the perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted. Now there is silence in the capital.”

On social media, Israeli President Isaac Herzog denounced the attack as a “pogrom,” referring to historic anti-Semitic attacks in Russia and eastern Europe, saying it was reminiscent of the October 7 attack by Hamas.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington said on social media that “hundreds” of Maccabi fans “were ambushed in Amsterdam tonight as they left the stadium following the match,” according to AFP. The embassy blamed the violence on “a mob targeting innocent people in Israel.”

Geert Wilders, the country’s far-right lawmaker whose Party for Freedom won elections in the Netherlands last year and who is a staunch friend of Israel, responded to a video showing a Maccabi fan surrounded by several men.

“It looks like a Jew who hunts in the streets of Amsterdam. He caught and chased away the scum of different cultures that attacked the supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv in our streets. He is ashamed that this can happen in the Netherlands. It is absolutely unacceptable,” said Wilders.