Evacuation Planes Dispatched After Attack on Israeli Soccer Fans in Amsterdam

November 8, 2024

A Dutch national guard stands guard after a brawl breaks out in the city center after a soccer match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv on Matchday 4 of the UEFA Europa League in Amsterdam, November 8, 2024. Mobile police officer. In a message posted to the Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schauff's X account, he called the “anti-Semitic attacks against Israelis” in Amsterdam “unacceptable.” (Photo credit: VLN NIEWS/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
12:09 PM – Friday, November 8, 2024

Five people were hospitalized and more than 60 arrested after violence targeting Israeli soccer supporters in the Dutch capital Amsterdam, foreign authorities reported on Friday.

Social media users shared videos of ongoing violence on the city's streets. One of the videos, NBC News Geographical identification of the area around Amsterdam Central Station reveals a large number of insane individuals chasing and physically attacking different individuals.

Five people were hospitalized and more than 60 arrested after brutal violence targeting Israeli soccer supporters in the Dutch capital Amsterdam, police said on Friday.

In another video, NBC News According to reports, supporters of Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv were seen singing “Let the IDF win” in Amsterdam and even tearing up a large Palestinian flag.

After Israeli and Dutch leaders condemned the anti-Semitic incidents, Israel sent several commercial planes to bring its supporters home after receiving information that attacks were continuing.

Furthermore, the situation after the match between the Dutch powerhouse Ajax and the Israeli team was described by the office of Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema as “extremely chaotic, with several incidents of violence targeting Maccabi supporters.” characterized. The statement said the “rioters” “actively sought out Israeli supporters and attacked and assaulted them.”

Halsema said at a press conference on Friday that the city is currently taking emergency measures, including banning protests. She said these incidents were “an embarrassment” to the city.

At a press conference on Friday, acting Amsterdam Police Chief Peter Hora announced that hundreds of police officers from across the country had been sent to assist police as several incidents occurred in the hours before the match. did.

He also explained that pro-Palestinian protesters had also gathered in the square where Israeli supporters had gathered before Thursday's match, and that authorities were struggling to separate the two noisy groups.

Ola noted that most of the violence started after the match.

On Friday, Prime Minister Netanyahu was briefed on the incident at the Foreign Ministry's Situation Room.

He said Israel “cannot accept this” and that the violence “endangers us and them, the free nations and the Netherlands,” according to a statement released by his office.

He likened the event to Kristallnacht, also known as the “Night of Broken Glass,” which occurred on November 9.^thIn 1938, almost 86 years ago, Nazi forces staged a pogrom in Germany in which mobs violently attacked Jews.

The president of the Jewish state also commented.