Israeli Ambassador Joshua Zarka believes on BFMTV that those who attacked Israeli football fans in Amsterdam were “hunting the Jews”.
The Israeli ambassador to France has no doubts. According to Joshua Zarka, the Israeli fans attacked in Amsterdam last Thursday on the sidelines of the match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel-Aviv were targeted because they were Jewish.
“They were chasing Jews, not Israelis,” said the diplomat on the BFMTV set this Tuesday, November 12.
“What is happening in Europe reminds us of what happened 80 years ago. These are barbaric and anti-Semitic forces who are chasing Jews into the streets,” he insisted.
“Toxic cocktail”
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. Before the match, incidents involving Maccabi fans broke out, including anti-Arab chants chanted in the streets of Amsterdam.
“The fact that supporters behave in a distressing way does not mean that it allows different populations to chase Jews into the streets,” the Israeli ambassador said on our antenna.
The mayor of Amsterdam spoke this Tuesday of a “toxic cocktail of anti-Semitism and hooliganism” to explain the violence. “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 supporters 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 detailed.
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