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Amsterdam chaos

Israeli soccer fans attacked by assailants in Amsterdam

Israeli and U.S. leaders are describing the attack, which occurred after the Maccabi Tel Aviv-Ajax game, as a modern-day pogrom

JEROEN JUMELET/ANP/AFP via Getty Images

Pro-Palestinians demonstrate at Amsterdam's Anton de Komplein square ahead of the UEFA Europa League football match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv on November 7, 2024.

Pro-Palestinian assailants attacked Israeli fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team in the streets of Amsterdam Thursday evening after a game between the Israeli team and a local team, Ajax, in a series of attacks that Israeli and U.S. leaders are describing as a modern-day pogrom.

As of Friday morning, ten Israelis were unaccounted for, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and at least 10 wounded. Videos shared on social media showed Israelis being attacked with knives, clubs and vehicles, and attackers shouting anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian slogans. 

Though video circulated on social media showing Israeli soccer fans chanting anti-Arab slogans and additional videos showed Israelis taking down Palestinian flags from buildings, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli posted evidence that the attacks were premeditated. For example, a Dutch pro-Palestinian group called for “a direct clash with our enemy ([Israel Occupation Forces] and Mossad)” in an Instagram post two days before the game. Chikli also said there was a threat against a specific Maccabi fan who serves in Israel’s Border Patrol, who received safety instructions directly from the government, and against a hotel in which Israelis were staying.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he was sending planes to the Netherlands to evacuate Israeli citizens. The IDF had also announced plans to dispatch a rescue mission, but it was later called off.

Three emergency El Al planes departed Israel for Amsterdam on Friday morning, one of them carrying Israel’s new Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on board, heading to meetings with his Dutch counterpart and the local Jewish community, as well as to supervise efforts to evacuate Israelis.

Two scheduled flights that can hold a total of 350 passengers were also set to take off from Amsterdam on Friday. The emergency flights were expected to arrive in Israel on Shabbat, with special permission from Israel’s chief rabbis.

Netanyahu demanded action by Dutch security forces, and said that he had consulted with top security officials.

“The harsh pictures of the assault on our citizens in Amsterdam will not be overlooked. Prime Minister Netanyahu views the horrifying incident with utmost gravity and demands that the Dutch government and security forces take vigorous and swift action against the rioters, and ensure the safety of our citizens,” the Prime Minister’s office said in a statement.

Netanyahu also spoke with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, emphasizing that the Netherlands must ensure the safety of the Israeli tourists, including those who were injured, and calling to increase security for the local Jewish community. 

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office readout called the attacks a pogrom.

Schoof expressed “horror” at the events in a post on X, and said that these were “completely unacceptable antisemitic attacks on Israelis.” 

“The perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted,” Schoof wrote, adding that “it is quiet now in the capital.” 

The Israeli National Security Council instructed Israelis to stay in their hotel rooms and avoid going out into the street for several hours, before updating them that it is safe to go to the airport. The NSC continued to recommend hiding all signs of being Israeli or Jewish and to return to Israel as soon as possible. They also asked Israelis in Amsterdam to download the Home Front Command app, which usually sends location-based alerts about rockets and missiles launched at Israel, to receive security updates in the Netherlands.

Hours after the attacks ended, the NSC maintained a high level of alert for Jewish and Israeli sites throughout the Netherlands, warning of further attacks inspired by the violent riot.

Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Party for Freedom, called the attacks “a Jew hunt,” blaming them on Muslims and saying that the Netherlands had become the “Gaza of Europe” in posts on X. 

“Arrest and deport the multicultural scum,” he wrote. “Ashamed that this can happen in the Netherlands.” 

Chikli confirmed to Jewish Insider that Israel sent advance warnings to Dutch law enforcement.

“Unfortunately, the local forces failed in their mission to defend Israeli citizen soccer fans,” Chikli wrote on X.

Though Amsterdam police were on high alert ahead of the soccer match and accompanied Israeli fans until about 1 a.m. from the stadium to Dam Square, where many of their hotels were located, law enforcement authorities in Amsterdam were slow to respond to the violence that broke out at about 2:30 a.m., according to media. After the rioting broke out, Israeli authorities continued to contact Dutch counterparts with information, and the police diverted dozens of Israeli soccer fans to another location.

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. State Department’s antisemitism envoy, said she was “horrified by the attacks tonight in Amsterdam, which are terribly reminiscent of a classic pogrom.”

“I am 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,” Lipstadt continued. “In terrible historical irony, this is happening two days before the grim anniversary of Reichspogromnacht in 1938, when Nazi-sanctioned and led pogroms against Jews erupted across the German Reich.”

Last month, a Dutch police spokesperson admitted that there were officers who had “moral objections” to protecting Jewish sites, including the National Holocaust Museum. 

U.S. lawmakers also condemned the attacks on the Israeli fans.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), the co-chair of the Senate antisemitism task force, said she was “horrified” by the attacks.

“Jews are facing violence and terror because of who they are, and we must all condemn it in the strongest terms,” Rosen said. “Ahead of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the world cannot be silent when antisemitism rears its ugly head.

Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) called the scenes “despicable.”

“​​After the Holocaust, we said Never Again, yet here we are nearly 80 years later,” Britt continued. “I am praying for the Jewish people worldwide.”

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) said he and a group of Jewish members intend to discuss the matter with the Dutch ambassador to the United States on Friday.

“This is outrageous,” Sherman said. “The government of the Netherlands must protect Jews from these attacks and prosecute the assailants.”

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) said the attacks amount to “nothing short of a pogrom.”

“Dutch law enforcement must stop these targeted attacks on Jews immediately,” Goldman said. “Antisemitism is spreading around the world & all those who oppose hate must speak out.”

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) also described the attack as a “pogrom.”

“The hysterical and hyperbolic demonization of Israel has led to a global outbreak of antisemitic vitriol, vandalism, and violence. The single most monstrous manifestation of antisemitism is a pogrom that is presently unfolding against hundreds of Jews who were cheering on the Tel Aviv Football Club in Amsterdam,” Torres said. “Those inciting antisemitism now have the blood of a 21st-century pogrom on their hands.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), highlighted that the attack comes days before the anniversary of Kristallnacht.

“Jews are once again experiencing antisemitism and vicious attacks in Europe,” Hoyer said. “I am deeply disturbed by the reports from Amsterdam and I will continue working to stop the rise in antisemitism across the world and in America.”

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said he was “horrified” and that “we must ensure that our Jewish brothers and sisters here in the United States are protected.”

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) joined those describing the attack as a pogrom and questioned the seeming lack of a police response seen in videos. He said that lawmakers would “demand answers” from the Dutch embassy.

Jason Greenblatt, an official in the first Trump administration, said that the incident “should be at the top of the agenda” when Dutch officials seek meetings with the incoming Trump administration, adding that the current administration should “[jump] on this now.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said that “this is exactly what ‘globalize the intifada’ looks like.”

“Mobs of hate-filled people chasing down and attacking innocent Israeli soccer fans who they have dehumanized as ‘Zionists,’ hunting down and brutalizing ordinary people who came to Amsterdam simply to enjoy a soccer match,” Greenblatt continued. “We demand Dutch authorities do everything necessary to ensure the safety of the Israeli fans, work to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators, and apologize for this obscene, unprovoked violence.”

Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that the incident highlights the need to “deport radical Islamists who aren’t U.S. citizens,” a focus of President-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans’ messaging around antisemitism and anti-Israel protests in the U.S.

Dubowitz said such individuals endanger all moderate people and, “if we don’t act, our cities risk becoming like Amsterdam, Brussels, Malmo, et al where violent extremists rule the streets.”

He warned European nations that they are “at risk of losing your countries, democracies, and way of life.”

Yinam Cohen, the Israeli consul general to the midwest United States, said that a common thread connects the events in Amsterdam to an attack by anti-Israel demonstrators at a synagogue in Chicago the night before. He also called the Amsterdam attack a pogrom.

“Both were perpetrated by Middle Eastern “pro-Palestine” mobs, fueled by calls to ‘globalize the Intifada’ — spreading hatred and inciting violence against Jews,” Cohen said.

A France-Israel soccer match is set for Nov. 14 in a Paris suburb. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who has authority over national police, said that the game will not be relocated.

“France is not backing down because that would amount to giving up in the face of threats of violence and anti-Semitism,” Retailleau wrote on X. “At my request, the Prefect of Police [Laurent Nunez] is taking the necessary security measures to ensure that this match takes place at the Stade de France, as usual.”

This story was updated at 7:00 a.m. ET

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