Israeli soccer fans attacked near Amsterdam Central station, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 8, 2024. (Photo: Screenshot/X/iAnnet/via REUTERS)
UPDATE 14:30 Israel time: Israel’s Foreign Ministry released a statement that all Israelis have been accounted for.
Israeli soccer fans were brutally attacked by mobs in Amsterdam on Thursday evening following a soccer game between Maccabi Tel Aviv and local Ajax, with footage on social media showing fans being chased through the streets and severely beaten by suspected migrant mobs.
At least 10 wounded Israelis were located in hospitals so far, with estimates being as high as 20, while seven Israelis are missing and could not be contacted, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News.
Some horrifying “just anti-Zionism” in Amsterdam tonight as Israeli soccer fans are lynched by huge pro-Palestine mobs. Where are the police?! pic.twitter.com/HMwQgCwJMi
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) November 8, 2024
Dutch police said that it is investigating the suspicion of a kidnapping during the night, and said that around 60 people were arrested in connection to the incident so far.
Israel’s new Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar reportedly flew to Holland on Friday morning to assist evacuation efforts. The main focus of Israeli authorities is to enable the quick return home of some 2,750 Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters estimated to be in Amsterdam at the moment.
After the IDF initially announced it would send military planes, the Prime Minister’s Office said that civilian airlines would increase their flights instead. The Israeli Transport Ministry ordered the Israeli airlines El Al, Arkia and Israir to add three rescue flights to Amsterdam.
Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar also sent a professional team to Holland to assist in efforts to contact all Israeli fans and return them to Israel. In addition, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet reportedly offered Dutch authorities to send a team to assist as well.
The IDF announced in the morning that army personnel would be forbidden from flying to Holland until further notice.
According to testimonies, most of the attackers were Arab or Muslim migrants. Some Israelis were reportedly asked whether they spoke Arabic or Dutch before being attacked.
Footage on social media shows Israeli soccer fans being beaten and chased with knives, while others tried to hit the Israelis with vehicles. Several videos on social media showed Israelis fleeing from the rioters by jumping into the canals.
In one video a man is being kicked to the ground while shouting “I’m not Jewish,” while another allegedly shows a mob entering a hotel where they suspected Israeli fans were staying.
“We experience the very thing they told us in school would never happen again,” one Israeli told the news outlet Maariv, referring to the Holocaust and persecution of Jews. The pogrom happened merely hours after the commemoration of the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht.
One of the missing Israelis is 33-year-old Guy Avidor who reportedly travelled from London to watch the game. Avidor’s family has not heard from him after the game and has urged the public to assist in locating him.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been informed of the incident and has sent two rescue planes to assist Israeli citizens. The IDF is coordinating the rescue mission, and are sending cargo aircraft and two planes from the Hercules squadron with medical and rescue teams,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in an official statement Friday morning.
It added that the prime minister viewed the “horrifying incident with utmost gravity” and urged the Dutch government and security authorities to take “vigorous and swift action against the rioters.”
The Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof condemned the antisemitic attacks on social media after speaking with Netanyahu on the phone.
“Completely unacceptable antisemitic attacks on Israelis,” Schoof wrote on X. The Dutch premier vowed that the perpetrators would be caught and prosecuted.
Israel’s National Security Council issued new security instructions to Israelis and Jews in the Netherlands. “Avoid movements in the street and lock yourself in hotel rooms. Showing Israeli and Jewish symbols must be avoided,” it stated.
A local Jewish Chabad official who attended the soccer game expressed his shock after the attacks. “I’m in shock now and hope that it will end soon. Didn’t expect it at all,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “We’ll try to help everyone, God willing,” he added.
Some Israeli fans believe that the antisemitic attack was planned in advance, according to the journalist Raz Amir.
“The Dutch police sold us so that the Arabs would lynch us,” one Israeli soccer fan who was seriously injured told Amir. The Israeli soccer fans complained that the Dutch police did not offer the Israeli visitors any security after they left the game and were returning to their hotels.
The strongest reactions from Holland came from the right-wing Dutch coalition leader Geert Wilders, who is a vocal supporter of Israel. “Pogrom in the streets of Amsterdam. We have become the Gaza of Europe. Muslims with Palestinian flags hunting down Jews. I will NOT accept that. NEVER. The authorities will be held accountable for their failure to protect the Israeli citizens. Never again,” he wrote on X.
Shortly after, Wilders commented on a video showing Israelis being chased through Amsterdam: “Looks like a Jew hunt in the streets of Amsterdam. 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.”
