As they got off the plane that brought them home Friday, Israeli soccer fans recounted the “scary” violence that followed their team’s match the day before in Amsterdam, with some vowing to avoid Europe the future.
The violence broke out after a Europa League match Thursday evening between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv, won 5-0 by the local team. Five people were briefly hospitalized and 62 others arrested, according to Dutch police.
In the arrivals hall at Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israeli fans – some still wearing scarves and Maccabi Tel Aviv jerseys – were greeted by a swarm of journalists and hugged by relatives, relieved.
One of them, Nadav Zer, said he and the people he was with were able to escape and arrive safely at their hotel in the city center. “We heard explosions all night…screams and screams. But we never heard from the police,” the 33-year-old supporter told reporters. “It was unimaginable, all night,” he insisted.
Another supporter, Kobi Eliyahu, urged his compatriots to stop traveling to Europe. “Everyone needs to understand what happened last night. Israelis and Jews should never return to Europe again. They don’t deserve us,” he said.
The 40-year-old photographer, who attended the match with his younger brother and two sisters, said they had to face ambushes by individuals with camouflaged faces. “They were waiting on every street corner. With just the eyes (visible), head coverings, and it was very scary to see,” he said.
“It was orchestrated. They knew what was going to happen and it was a total surprise to us. Scenes evoking, according to him, “the 1930s in Europe” and the hunt for Jews by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
In Amsterdam, provocations also seem to have come from the Israeli ranks. A video circulating on social media purportedly filmed on Thursday showed some Maccabi Tel Aviv fans chanting in Hebrew: “May the Israeli army win! We’re going to fuck the Arabs!”
AFP was unable to confirm the authenticity of these images. Maccabi Tel Aviv players who landed at Ben Gurion have not commented, but club boss Ben Mansford described the events as “tragic”.
For him, the violence had “nothing to do with football”. “We have been incredibly well received by Ajax as a football club. The atmosphere in the stadium was superb,” he said.
