Israel has lashed out at the ‘very low’ number of arrests made in the wake of the attack on Maccab Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam.
Newly appointed Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters in Jerusalem on Monday that Israel deemed the number of arrests over clashes in Amsterdam last week ‘very low’.
‘I was informed by the mayor of Amsterdam that they formed a special inquiry team, but I can tell that until now, the number of arrests is very low,’ Saar said.
Israel had offered to help investigate the violence that broke out in Amsterdam on Thursday following a football match between Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv and the hosts Ajax.
Dutch police said they arrested 62 people in connection over the unrest, which left between 20 and 30 supporters of the Israeli team injured. The police said they had been chased by groups of people who had answered online calls to target Jews.
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema said gangs on scooters targeted fans of the Israeli club, beating and kicking them in ‘hit-and-run’ attacks.
A protester with a Palestinian flag and Mobile Unit (ME) during a pro-Palestinian demonstration during Ajax – Maccabi Tel-Aviv at Anton de Komplein
Demonstrators run with Palestinian flags ahead of the UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv at Anton de Komplein in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 07 November 2024.
Israeli football supporters and Dutch youth clash near Amsterdam Central station, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 8, 2024
The Dutch city’s police chief said there had been ‘incidents on both sides’ on Wednesday, 24 hours before the match.
‘A Palestinian flag was set on fire on the Dam,’ he added, referring to Amsterdam’s central square.
In scenes that showed the tensions, unverified video on social media purportedly filmed on Thursday appeared to show some Maccabi fans chanting in Hebrew: ‘Let the IDF (army) win! We’ll f*** the Arabs!’
The scenes in Amsterdam were enough to spark fear in other European nations.
Paris police said on Sunday that 4,000 officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for a France-Israel soccer match to ensure security in and around the stadium and on public transportation.
France and Israel are playing in a UEFA Nations League match on Thursday that French President Emmanuel Macron will attend, the Elysee presidential palace said.
Israel’s National Security Council, in a statement Sunday, warned citizens abroad to avoid sports and cultural events, specifically the match in Paris, and be careful of violent attacks ‘under the pretense of demonstrations.’
‘There’s a context, tensions that make that match a high-risk event for us,’ Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez said on French news broadcaster BFM TV, adding authorities ‘won’t tolerate’ any violence.
Nuñez said that 2,500 police officers would be deployed around the Stade de France stadium, north of the French capital, in addition to 1,500 others in Paris and on public transportation.
‘There will be an anti-terrorist security perimeter around the stadium,’ Nuñez said. Security checks will be ‘reinforced,’ he added, including with systematic pat-downs and bag searches.
Fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv stage a pro-Israel demonstration at the Dam Square
In the lead-up to the Ajax vs Maccabi Tel Aviv match, several areas of Amsterdam were designated as security risk zones
Hours before the match, fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv staged a pro-Israel demonstration at the Dam Square in the city
One witness to the violence in Amsterdam last week recalled how the thugs were ‘not looking for Israelis – they were looking for Jews’ in shocking ‘anti-Semitic’ scenes that followed a Europa FC match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and AFC Ajax.
Recounting the horror of his ordeal, a 33-year-old from Hendon, north London, known only as Aaron, told Jewish News: ‘We left the game early to meet a friend.
‘As we walked towards the bar area, chaos broke out—mopeds appeared from alleyways and a crowd surrounded an Israeli man.’
The father-of-two said he then witnessed the helpless fan on the ground, ‘his head pinned between a kerb and a metal gate, being viciously kicked.’ Aaron, who was with his friend Jacob, who is also from London, decided to intervene and pushed the attackers away.
‘We thought it was over,’ he said.
But moments later, the gang returned and confronted them, asking, ‘Are you Yehudi? Are you Jewish?’
One video shows a man being dragged by his coat, with the person taking the video swearing at him and shouting statements in support of Gaza
Witnesses have told of the shocking ‘anti-Semitic’ scenes that followed a Europa FC match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and AFC Ajax on Thursday
A British-Jewish man known only as Aaron was left with blood streaming down his face after he stepped in to help an Israeli football fan from being attacked by an anti-Jewish gang in Amsterdam on Thursday evening
Jacob, a father-of-three from Golders Green, north London, said the men asked to see their passports to check whether they were Jewish or not.
Despite denying they were Israeli, the men continued to harass the terrified pair and grabbed onto Jacob’s coat.
‘I told him to leave him alone, and the next thing I know he punched me in the face. It was so unexpected.
‘My glasses were broken, my nose split. Blood everywhere.
‘After he punched me, about 20 more came out of their hiding places to effectively finish me off.
‘But I stood my ground. I said what you’re doing is why you’re not getting any support.’
When the leader of the gang said: ‘He’s British, leave him alone’, another responded ‘Yes, but he helped a Jew.’
‘That,’ says Aaron, ‘is why they were angry. Because I helped a Jew.’
Maccabi Tel-Aviv fans carry flags as they wait for the arrival of their friends and family members from Amsterdam, at the Ben Gurion International Airport
Aaron claims he did not see any police officers until ‘after around 45 minutes’ and believes they may have been ‘scared’ by the violent scenes as they unfolded.
He continued: ‘I saw this poor dad with his kid running towards the hotel.
‘They probably got him. They weren’t looking for Israelis. They were looking for Jews. They knew what they were doing.
‘It wasn’t a random ‘Oh, let’s get an Israeli’. It was organised. It was ‘We want Jews. We want Jewish blood’.’
Aaron later received stitches for his facial injuries at a local hospital.
In the moments following his attack, one of the gang came over to apologise to him, saying, ‘Sorry we thought you were Zionist.’
Jacob added that after the apology, one of the gang said: ‘The streets are full of Zionists and we need to get the Zionists’.
He said: ‘I’m not one to be afraid but it was a dangerous situation. It was gangs of people looking for blood.’
He adds: ‘They wanted to kill that guy I helped. They were just stamping on his head.’
