07h03: According to the Dutch press, two people were arrested in the afternoon after clashes between supporters of the Israeli football club and pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in the city center. Several neighborhoods in Amsterdam had been declared “risk zones”, which gives the police the right to stop and search individuals.
The day before, Wednesday, Mayor Femke Halsema had also banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration which was to take place next to the Johan Cruijff Arena due to the risk of unrest.
06:32: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been informed of a “very violent incident” targeting Israeli nationals in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, his office announced Friday. Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched two planes there to provide assistance to Israeli nationals, it was indicated in a press release.
06:18: The Israeli Ministry of National Security called on Israeli nationals in Amsterdam to stay in their hotel rooms after the attacks, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a separate statement. “Fans who went to watch a football match faced anti-Semitism and were attacked with unimaginable cruelty simply because they were Jewish and Israeli,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said. .
06:11: Israeli Sports Minister Gideon Saar called on the Dutch government to help Israeli nationals get to the airport safelyhe told his Dutch counterpart, Caspar Veldkamp, on Friday.
05:55: Several supporters of the Maccabi Tel Aviv football club were attacked last night on the streets of Amsterdam after the Israeli football team’s defeat against local club Ajax. On Friday night, videos posted on social networks showed, according to the newspaper, “brutal attacks by masked attackers, some of whom carried Palestinian flags and shouted “Liberate Palestine!””
According to Haaretz, around ten Israeli supporters were injured, and contact was lost with two others. The Israeli daily Maariv, which collected on-site testimonies from supporters, spoke of “planned ambushes”, which would have been set up by individuals speaking in Arabic.
A witness cited by the newspaper explains that one of his friends was kidnapped. “I called his phone and the Arabs answered,” he said. Still according to Maariv, who does not hesitate to speak of a “pogrom”, several other kidnapping attempts have been reported, as well as attacks with knives and car ramming attacks.
