A first plane carrying Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam after clashes on Thursday on the sidelines of a football match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel-Aviv, landed in Tel Aviv on Friday, the day after violence which provoked reactions of indignation in the world.
Several people were injured Thursday in this violence described as an “explosion of anti-Semitism” by the mayor of the city to which Israel dispatched planes to repatriate Israeli citizens.
A first plane intended to repatriate Israeli citizens from Amsterdam “has just arrived in Tel Aviv,” a spokesperson for the airport authorities, Liza Dvir, told AFP on Friday afternoon.
This violence represents an “explosion of anti-Semitism” that “has not been seen for a long time,” said Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, citing people who beat supporters of the Maccabi Tel Aviv team before to flee, with “hooligans on scooters” looking for Israeli supporters.
The mayor of Amsterdam also announced a strengthening of security measures as well as a temporary ban on demonstrations in the capital.
Police on alert
Widely deployed on Thursday before the match, the Dutch police were on alert after a Palestinian flag was torn down the day before from a facade on a major avenue in the city center.
“The violence had already started on Wednesday evening between supporters. It was a night with incidents on both sides. Maccabi supporters removed a flag from a facade of the Rokin and destroyed a taxi. A Palestinian flag was set on fire at the dam,” Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said on Friday.
Police on Friday reported five people briefly hospitalized and 62 arrests after the night’s clashes.
During the night, “the police had to intervene several times, protect the Israeli supporters and escort them to their hotels. Despite the massive police presence in the city, Israeli supporters were injured,” added the Dutch authorities, announcing the opening of an investigation.
UN and EU outraged
The UN and the EU expressed their outrage on Friday after the attacks in Amsterdam.
“We have seen this very disturbing information. No one should be subjected to discrimination or violence on the basis of their national, religious, ethnic or other origin,” Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Friday. man.
For her part, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said she was “outraged” by these “despicable” and “unacceptable” attacks. “Anti-Semitism has absolutely no place in Europe,” reacted the head of the European executive on X.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence which recalls “the most shameful hours in history” and Berlin judged the images of the violence committed in Amsterdam “terrible and deeply shameful for us in Europe”.
In Israel, where the scenes of violence during the night aroused anger and strong emotion, the army announced a ban on all its personnel traveling to the Netherlands “until further notice”.
In addition, a first plane intended to repatriate Israeli citizens from Amsterdam took off on Friday from Ben Gurion Airport and is expected in Amsterdam early in the afternoon, an airport source told AFP. According to the Israeli company El Al, three evacuation flights are planned in the coming hours, plus two regular flights.
The head of Israeli diplomacy, Gideon Saar, who must urgently go to Amsterdam, spoke with his Dutch counterpart, Caspar Veldkamp, asking that the Dutch authorities ensure the security of supporters for their transfer to the airport.
“Appalling incident”
The violence in Amsterdam took place in a context marked by the rise in anti-Semitic acts around the world since the war between Israel and Hamas, with representatives of the EU and the United States deploring in September a “tsunami of anti-Semitism “.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof described the night’s “anti-Semitic attacks” as “unacceptable” in a message posted on X.
In Israel, the authorities reacted very strongly, with Mr. Netanyahu saying he considered “the appalling incident with the greatest seriousness” and “demanded (the Dutch authorities) to act vigorously and quickly against the rioters”.
Founded under another name in 1906, Maccabi Tel Aviv is Israel’s oldest and most successful club.
His supporters are not particularly known to be violent, but images circulating on social networks on Friday and presented as filmed in Amsterdam – the origin of which AFP has not yet been able to verify – show what appear to be dozens of fans of the club singing in Hebrew “Finish the Arabs!” We’re going to win! » or even “Let the IDF win to finish off the Arabs”.
Thursday afternoon, around a hundred Israeli supporters gathered on Dam Square, surrounded by a large police force, before going to the Johan Cruyff stadium in Amsterdam.
A pro-Palestinian rally condemning the arrival of the Israeli club was initially planned near the stadium, but was moved a little further into the neighborhood by the town hall for security reasons.
France-Israel match
Asked about the France-Israel match, scheduled for Thursday at the Stade de France, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau declared that he would not accept its relocation.
“Some are calling for the France-Israel match to be relocated. I do not accept it: France is not backing down because that would amount to abdicating in the face of threats of violence and in the face of anti-Semitism,” he wrote on his X account, adding: “At my request, the prefect police officer Laurent Nunez is making the necessary security arrangements for this match to take place at the Stade de France, as usual. »
