Netanyahu sends 2 planes to Netherlands to bring out Israeli soccer fans after violence surrounding match in Amsterdam

Amsterdam — Antisemitic rioters “actively sought out Israeli supporters to attack and assault them” after a soccer match, Amsterdam authorities said Friday as Israel said it was sending planes to the Dutch capital to fly fans home.

An unknown number of Israeli supporters were injured in the Thursday night violence that was condemned by the leaders of both the Netherlands and Israel as antisemitic.

The attacks on fans of soccer club Maccabi Tel Aviv came after a Europa League soccer match between their team and Ajax.

The violence erupted despite a ban on a pro-Palestinian demonstration near the soccer stadium imposed by Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, who’d feared clashes would break out between protesters and supporters of the Israeli soccer club.

Halsema said supporters of the Israeli team were hurt and the extent of the violence and number of arrests were still being sorted out, according to the Reuters news agency.

Agence France-Presse reported that a Dutch police spokesperson told the Dutch ANP news agency 57 people had been arrested.

AFP said social media platforms were inundated with unverified images supposedly showing the violence, but authorities offered few confirmed details.

AFP said AT5 reported that the clashes occurred around midnight with numerous fights and acts of vandalism in the center of Amsterdam. “A large number of mobile unit vehicles are present and reinforcements have also been called in,” AT5 said.

Details were unclear, but Israel ordered that two planes be sent to the Dutch capital to bring the Israelis home.

“The Prime Minister has directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to assist our citizens,” said a statement from Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

It added that “the harsh pictures of the assault on our citizens in Amsterdam will not be overlooked,” and that Netanyahu “views the premeditated antisemitic attack against Israeli citizens with utmost gravity.” He demanded that the Dutch government take “vigorous and swift action” against those involved.

Netanyahu’s office added that he had called for increased security for the Jewish community in the Netherlands.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on X that he followed reports of the violence “with horror.”

“Completely unacceptable antisemitic attacks on Israelis. I am in close contact with everyone involved,” he added, saying that he had spoken to Netanyahu and “emphasized that the perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted. It is now quiet in the capital.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog Israel denounced the attacks as a “pogrom” and said they were reminiscent of the October 7, 2023  attack by Hamas on Israel.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington said on the social media platform X that “hundreds” of Maccabi fans were “ambushed and attacked in Amsterdam tonight as they left the stadium following a game,” according to AFP. The embassy blamed the violence on a “mob who targeted innocent Israelis.”

Geert Wilders, the hard right nationalist lawmaker whose Party for Freedom won elections in the Netherlands last year and who is a staunch ally of Israel, reacted to a video apparently showing a Maccabi fan being surrounded by several men.

“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,” Wilders said.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, also condemned the violence in a post on the social media platform X.