several injured in an “explosion of anti-Semitism”, Israel dispatches repatriation planes

Several people were injured Thursday on the sidelines of a football match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Amsterdam in clashes described as an “explosion of anti-Semitism” by the mayor of the city to which Israel was dispatching planes. to repatriate Israeli citizens.

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 also announced a strengthening of security measures as well as a temporary ban on demonstrations in the capital.

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 main 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 on the dam,” Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said on Friday.

Police reported five people briefly hospitalized Friday morning and 62 arrests after the night’s clashes.

“The night following the football match (…) was very eventful with several violent incidents targeting Maccabi supporters” in several places in the city, Dutch authorities said.

“The police had to intervene on several occasions, protect the Israeli supporters and escort them to their hotels. Despite the massive police presence in the city, Israeli supporters were injured,” added the same source, 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 High Commission, said on Friday. of the United Nations for human rights.

For her part, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said she was “outraged” by these “vile attacks” and “unacceptable”. “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 to be “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 from 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.

“Terrible 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 the oldest and most successful club in Israel.

His supporters are not particularly known to be violent, but images circulating on social networks on Friday and presented as being 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 will 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 relocation of the France-Israel match. 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 account X, adding: “At my request, the police prefect Laurent Nunez is making the necessary security arrangements for this match to take place at the Stade de France, as usual.