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 before, violence sparked reactions of indignation around the world.
Several people were injured in these incidents, 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. According to the El Al airline, it was a regular flight on which evacuated Israelis were seated.
In addition to regular flights, four special evacuation flights are planned this Friday and two more on Saturday, said company spokesperson Shira Kesselgross.
“All flights that will land from now on are evacuation flights,” she said. “Adding this morning’s flights, this means that approximately 1,850 Israelis will return from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv,” she said.
Ban on demonstrating
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.
She 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 to protect Israeli supporters and escort them to their hotels. Despite the massive police presence in the city, Israeli supporters were injured,” added the Dutch authorities.
UN and EU outraged
The UN and the EU expressed their outrage on Friday after these attacks. “We saw this very disturbing information. No one should be subjected to discrimination or violence on the basis of their national, religious, ethnic or other origin,” said Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. .
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said she was “outraged” by these “despicable attacks”. “Anti-Semitism has absolutely no place in Europe.”
In Israel, where scenes of violence aroused strong emotion, the army announced a ban on all its personnel from traveling to the Netherlands “until further notice”. The head of Israeli diplomacy, Gideon Saar, spoke with his Dutch counterpart, Caspar Veldkamp, asking him to “ensure the immediate safety of all those in danger”.
“Appalling incident”
This violence occurs 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 a “tsunami of anti-Semitism” in September. Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof described the night’s “anti-Semitic attacks” as “unacceptable”.
In Israel, the authorities reacted very strongly, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he considered “the appalling incident with the greatest seriousness” and “demanded (the Dutch authorities) to act vigorously and quickly against the rioters”.
Mr. Netanyahu also ordered Mossad, Israeli foreign intelligence, to develop an action plan to prevent violence during future sporting events.
Supporters provocateurs
These events have “nothing to do with football,” commented Maccabi Tel Aviv boss Ben Mansford on his return to Israel. 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 Friday on social networks 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.
Video whose facts are being verified
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, the French Minister of the Interior, 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.
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