The mayor of Amsterdam spoke on Tuesday of a “toxic cocktail of anti-Semitism and hooliganism” behind the attacks on Israeli supporters after a football match last week. Femke Halsema also added that “justices have been committed against Jews in our city as well as people belonging to minorities who sympathize with the Palestinians.”
The councilor spoke at an emergency meeting of the Amsterdam city council, after the Dutch capital was rocked by attacks on Israeli football fans by men described by the Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof as having “an immigrant background”.
“Jewish Israeli fans were guests in our city and they were hounded, chased and attacked with anti-Semitic calls on social media and in the streets,” said Femke Halsema. “But Amsterdammers were also attacked by Maccabi hooligans who chanted racist and hateful slogans in our city,” she added.
Maccabi fans burned a Palestinian flag in the central Dam Square and vandalized a taxi the day before the clash at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, Amsterdam police said.
The mayor stressed that “a fuller picture of the events of the evening has emerged”, and that “all kinds of terrible things were done”, but that “the police exercised great caution”.
20 to 30 injured
On the night of November 7 to 8 after a Europa League match between Ajax Amsterdam and the Israeli team Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Maccabi supporters were chased and beaten in the streets of Amsterdam, notably by groups of men on scooters.
These attacks, described as anti-Semitic in particular by Israel and the Dutch authorities, left 20 to 30 injured and sparked indignation in many Western capitals. Groups of Dutch attackers, “from immigration” according to Prime Minister Dick Schoof, carried out these attacks, responding to a call to attack Jews launched in advance on social networks. The latter promised on Monday “severe measures” against those guilty of the attacks against supporters.
Femke Halsema clarified that the city's Jewish institutions, including synagogues, had not been targeted and that the attacks were “purely aimed at Israeli Maccabi fans.” Isolated incidents broke out before the match, including anti-Arab chants chanted by supporters of the Israeli club.
This violence occurred in a context of polarization in Europe, with a rise in anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli and Islamophobic acts since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza. If in the past, European anti-Semitism found its roots in the far right, it is also currently partly fueled by certain left-wing and Islamist circles.
“Hooligans over racists”
Outside Amsterdam City Hall, where the emergency meeting was being held, around ten pro-Palestinian activists were present to show their discontent.
“The anger comes from the fact that the super racist hooligans from Maccabi Tel Aviv were allowed to come to the Netherlands to participate in the match,” said Frank van der Linde, a Dutch activist.
“The story revealed that there was certainly much more going on than was initially communicated. But the damage is already done. We are now portrayed around the world as a bunch of anti-Semites. And it’s really horrible,” he lamented.
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