‘Anti-Semitic’ clashes erupt in Amsterdam

Israeli and Dutch leaders on Friday condemned “anti-Semitic” clashes that erupted after a Europa League football match in Amsterdam overnight, with Israel sending rescue planes for their citizens.

The violence flared after the game between Maccabi Tel-Aviv and home team Ajax, which won 5-0.

A Dutch police spokesperson told ANP news agency that 57 people had been arrested, without providing further details.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof denounced the “completely unacceptable anti-Semitic attacks on Israelis.”

“I followed with horror the coverage from Amsterdam,” Schoof wrote on X, adding that he had spoken with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to assure him that “the perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted.”

The pair spoke after Netanyahu ordered rescue planes to the Netherlands to transport the Israeli fans back home.

Netanyahu’s office said he told Schoof that he “views the premeditated anti-Semitic attack against Israeli citizens with utmost seriousness and requested increased security for the Jewish community in the Netherlands,” his office said.

Dutch media AT5 said the clashes occurred around midnight. Social media platforms were flooded with unverified images purported to be of the violence, but confirmed details of the clashes were few.

AT5 said that numerous fights, as well as acts of vandalism, had occurred in the city center.

“A large number of mobile unit vehicles are present and reinforcements have also been called in,” it said. “Young people also allegedly provoked the police.”

Images on AT5 showed Dutch police escorting fans back to their hotels.

The Israeli embassy in the United States said “hundreds” of Maccabi fans were “ambushed and attacked in Amsterdam tonight as they left the stadium following a game.”

In its post on social media platform X, the embassy blamed the incident on a “mob who targeted innocent Israelis.”