Muslims and Arabs Attacked Israelis at Amsterdam

Israeli soccer fans on Friday recounted their terror when mobs of antisemitic rioters targeted and beat up Israelis Thursday, and said the police failed to protect them, in what was described as a twenty-first century “pogrom.”

Israeli officials said 10 Israelis were injured in the hours of overnight violence, which the victims said was perpetrated largely by local Muslims and Arabs, with hundreds more people reportedly besieged in their hotels and fearing they could be attacked again when trying to reach their flights home. The Israelis were mainly fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv, who came to watch their team play against Ajax in the city.

Amsterdam police said five people were hospitalized and 62 arrested after authorities said antisemitic rioters attacked Israeli supporters following the soccer match.

The police said that they had started a major investigation into multiple violent incidents. Amid rumors that some people had been taken hostage, officials said there was no sign of this, and Israeli authorities said all Israelis were accounted for.

Two Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, Aviv and Harel, told the Kan public broadcaster: “There was a police force standing on the side, not doing too much when there was some kind of protest. Everything was planned down to the last detail. Each of us had been to the Netherlands four times; we had never felt like this before.

"We saw people on the ground in the middle of the road. They arrived by car, by bike, they kicked. Some came in taxis, so we had trouble finding a taxi driver to get out of there. I suggested we hide any signs that could identify us and just pass through them, so they wouldn’t suspect us.”

Footage posted to social media shows anti-Israel assailants attacking fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv after a soccer game in Amsterdam on November 8, 2024. (Social media/X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

“It was a pogrom. We were abandoned by the Amsterdam police. Until other Israelis arrived at Dam Square and drove away the rioters, an hour and a half from the start of the event, the Amsterdam police didn’t lift a finger,” Dan Kopleh, an eyewitness, told Kan.

Footage from the scene screened on Israeli television included a video clip in which an assailant asked an Israeli where he was from and attacked him while shouting “Free Palestine.”

“Three people approached me on the street and asked where I was from. I said, ‘Greece.’ One of them grabbed my hand and told me to show my ID. I pushed him away and went into the casino. I was with five friends,” recalled Maccabi fan Amit Amira.

“We stood at the entrance to the casino, and no one wanted to help us. They told us, ‘Why did you come here?’ In the end, an Arab Israeli helped us. He said, ‘No one will mess with you. You’re with me.’ He ordered two taxis for us, and we escaped.”

Nir, a 39-year-old fan who came to the game with his 69-year-old father, told Haaretz that the two witnessed three fans being run over. “After the car ran into them, the fans got up, and before we understood what was happening, about six or seven people in big black coats, probably Muslims, ran toward us. I immediately told my father to turn around quickly, and we went into the hotel.”