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AMSTERDAM — Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has deployed two planes to Amsterdam to rescue Israeli citizens after what he and Dutch officials described as “antisemitic” attacks broke out following a football game.
Dutch police said that five people were hospitalized and 62 were arrested after rioters attacked Israeli football supporters both before and after the game.
The fans were in Amsterdam to watch a Europa League match between Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch team Ajax.
Antisemitic rioters “actively sought out Israeli supporters to attack and assault them” after a soccer match, Amsterdam authorities said.
Fans were reportedly assaulted in different locations in the Dutch capital before the game started. Several additional attacks begun after Israli team lost to Ajax, according to the Times of Israel.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof called the attacks “completely unacceptable” and “anti-Semitic,” adding he was in contact with his Israeli counterpart.
He said that the situation was under control and that perpetrators would be found and prosecuted.
Netanyahu announced he was sending planes to the Netherlands, which would include medical and rescue planes, and he had spoken to the Dutch Prime Minister.
The leader also called for increased security for the Jewish community in the Netherlands and for the Dutch government to take swift action against the perpetrators of the violence.
IDF International Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani described the decision to send planes to Amsterdam as part of a “historic duty of protecting our people.”
Alongside rescue planes sent by the government, Israeli airline El Al announced it would be offering two free rescue flights from Amsterdam to Israel.
Videos posted on social media showed chaos on city streets, with groups attacking one another. One widely circulated video, which has not been indepently verified by Euronews, shows a person on the ground in the middle of a street being kicked by multiple people.
Another video reposted by Israel’s Foreign Ministry shows one man kicking another on the ground.
“We woke up this morning to shocking images and videos that since October 7th, we had hoped never to see again: an antisemitic pogrom,” said Israel’s president Isaac Herzog on social media.
Dutch police said 62 people had been detained in connection to the attacks, many in the Johan Cruyff Arena where the football game was taking place.
They added that ten arrests took place before the game even started, when hundreds of Maccabi supporters gathered in the centre of Amsterdam early Thursday.
Another 30 were arrested at square Anton de Komplein, near the football stadium, where people were protesting the arrival of the Israeli football club and clashed with police.
Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, had previously banned pro-Palestinian protests from taking place near the stadium, fearing that clashes would take place between protesters and supporters of the Israeli football club.
The US special envoy on antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt, said she was disturbed by how long the attacks lasted, and called on the Dutch government to conduct a thorough investigation. — Euronews
