Pro-Palestinian demonstrators attacked Israeli football fans in a seemingly organised, widespread, violent attack after the Ajax Maccabi-Tel Aviv match late Thursday night, with video from the Dutch city showing brutal assaults by masked assailants, some of whom carry Palestinian flags and shout “free Palestine.”
Netanyahu called on Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof and local security forces “to act decisively and swiftly against the rioters, and to ensure the wellbeing of our citizens.” However, after reassessing the situation and upon the recommendation of officials, “it was decided that it is not necessary to send a professional rescue mission to the Netherlands.”
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon denounced the violence as a pogrom. “These are the true faces of the supporters of the radical terrorism we are fighting. The Western world needs to wake up now!!” the ambassador writes in a post on X.
Far-right Dutch leader Geert Wilders, whose party is a member of the Netherlands’ government, denounces the attacks on Israelis visiting Amsterdam for a Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer match as “totally unacceptable.” He also posted that “A pogrom in the streets of Amsterdam. Muslims with Palestinian flags hunting down Jews. I will NOT accept that. NEVER,” adding that the relevant authorities will be “held accountable for their failure to protect the Israeli citizens.”
The US envoy to counter antisemitism issues a statement denouncing the attacks on Israelis in Amsterdam, claiming it was „terribly reminiscent of a classic pogrom,” adding that she was also “deeply disturbed by how long the reported attacks lasted and call on the government to conduct a thorough investigation into security force intervention and on how these despicable attacks transpired.”
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says that he has been in “constant contact” with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and the Israel Police after the attack. Gvir added that the assault is “a warning sign to all European countries against radical Muslim violence.”
“Those who turn a blind eye to Islamic terrorism in the Middle East will encounter it at home in Europe and in the West,” Ben Gvir says. “Today the victims were Israelis, tomorrow it could be Europeans.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog calls the attacks on Israelis in Amsterdam “a warning sign for any country that wishes to uphold the values of freedom.”
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof says that he is horrified by the “unacceptable, antisemitic” attacks on Israeli soccer fans, adding that the “perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted,” stressing that order has been restored in Amsterdam following the overnight violence.
Amsterdam’s mayor Femke Halsema says her services are still evaluating the full extent of the violence that targeted Israeli soccer fans, highlighting that the exact number of victims and people arrested was not yet clear.
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