Players from TuS Makkabi, a youth under-17 soccer team in Berlin, were reportedly chased and assaulted on Thursday after playing against DJK Schwarz-Weiß Neukölln, according to international media reports.
The players were reportedly chased by a crowd wielding sticks and knives, according to German news site Tagesspiegel daily.
Players from the opposing team reportedly yelled “Free Palestine” at the Jewish team, one of the player’s fathers told the media. The children were also allegedly spat at repeatedly, and the father claimed the referee failed to intervene.
Schwarz-Weiss Neukölln promised to throw out the youth involved in the incident, according to The Telegraph. The “incidents like this don’t belong on soccer pitches – and certainly not on ours,” a spokesperson said.
Alon Meyer, the president of Makkabi Germany, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper witnesses confirmed “threats, including chasing people with knives, undoubtedly took place.”
MACCABI TEL AVIV soccer fans arrive at Ben-Gurion Airport on Friday, after they were flown from Amsterdam on an El Al emergency rescue flight. The pogrom in Amsterdam should serve as a wake-up call and a mandate for action, says the writer. (credit: Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)
Berlin Interior Senator Iris Spranger condemned the attacks, according to the German press agency DPA International.
“Just recently, there were attacks on players from the sports club TuS Makkabi Berlin. These acts show that antisemitic violence and discrimination have not disappeared in our city either,” Spranger said on Saturday.
The Staatsschutz hate crime police unit is reportedly investigating the incident.
Antisemitism in soccer
The club members have reportedly faced similar abuse over the last month, the Telegraph reported. A fan of the team, wearing a scarf representing the team, was in a cafe when he was reportedly punched in the face after being asked if he was Jewish.
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were attacked in Amsterdam following the Israeli soccer team’s match against Ajax. Emergency flights were commissioned to return Israelis home following the assaults.
Tensions in the capital of the Netherlands had been brewing after Maccabi football fans took down a Palestine flag.
The Dutch capital of Amsterdam is under strict security measures after clashes erupted this week between pro-Palestine supporters and fans of an Israeli football club before a UEFA Europa League match.
Tensions first escalated when Israeli football fans reportedly took down a Palestinian flag and chanted anti-Arab slogans – like “F*** you Palestine” and “No children left in Gaza”, according to videos verified by Reuters and eyewitnesses Al Jazeera spoke to on the ground – before their club’s match with a Dutch team.
Here’s what we know about the clashes, and the lead-up to the violence.
What happened in Amsterdam, and when?
Tensions in the city started building on Wednesday when supporters of the Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv arrived in Amsterdam. Their match against Ajax, a Dutch football club, was scheduled for the next day.
Later on Wednesday, Maccabi fans burned a Palestinian flag in the central Dam Square and vandalised a taxi, Amsterdam’s Police Chief Peter Holla told a news conference on Friday. A video verified by Reuters showed Maccabi fans setting off flares and chanting, “Ole, ole, let the [Israeli army] win, and F*** the Arabs”.
Israeli fans also attacked houses displaying Palestinian flags, Jazie Veldhuyzen, a member of the Amsterdam City Council, told Al Jazeera.
On Thursday evening, Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were chanting anti-Arab slogans as they marched towards the football stadium, video footage showed. Police escorted the fans to the match, and local authorities banned pro-Palestinian demonstrators from gathering outside the stadium. A pro-Palestinian march had been organised nearby at Anton de Komplein Square.
Ajax won the UEFA Europa League match against Maccabi 5-0. The game proceeded smoothly.
Following the match, groups on scooters targeted the Maccabi supporters as they made their way to the city centre.
Riot police intervened. Some fans were escorted to their hotels by bus with police escorts. An additional 600 police officers were deployed.
Sixty-two individuals were detained in connection with the attacks as police officers tried to control the situation. Ten remained in custody on Friday, the city’s chief public prosecutor, Rene de Beukelaer, told reporters at a news conference on Friday. On Saturday, Amsterdam prosecutors said 10 people are suspected of crimes including vandalism, while 40 suspects have been given fines for disturbing public order.
Further arrests could be made as Amsterdam police pour through security camera footage, social media posts, and other evidence to identify those involved in the clashes.
Where did it happen?
The clashes erupted in Amsterdam’s city centre, around Dam Square and Amsterdam Central Station.
Police said that the fans left the stadium calmly and without clashes.
How have authorities responded?
Amsterdam’s Mayor Femke Halsema, who had called the attacks “anti-Semitic hit-and-run squads”, imposed a temporary three-day ban on demonstrations, effective from Friday to Sunday.
Emergency measures, including stop-and-search powers and a ban on face coverings, have also been imposed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed the country’s spy agency, Mossad, to develop a plan to prevent violence at international events, he announced in a video statement. “I have instructed the head of the Mossad [David Barnea] and other officials to prepare our courses of action, our alert system and our organisation for a new situation,” Netanyahu stated.
The Israeli government initially ordered two planes to be sent to Amsterdam to bring fans home, but later, Netanyahu’s office announced it would arrange commercial flights instead.
Many fans were escorted by police-protected buses to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.
Maccabi advised its supporters to remain in hotels and avoid wearing or displaying visible Jewish symbols until departure. UEFA, European football’s governing body, said it would investigate the incident and review security protocols for future matches.
Was anyone hurt?
Five individuals were hospitalised and released on Friday, Amsterdam police confirmed, although they provided no further information about whether the injured were Dutch or Israeli.
An additional 20 to 30 people suffered minor injuries. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said 10 Israelis were injured.
Mayor Halsema said Maccabi Tel Aviv fans had been “attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks” around the city.
At least one fan reported injuries from a rock thrown at his head.
Additionally, Amsterdam police spokesperson Sara Tillart said it was too early in their investigation to determine whether any people other than football fans were targeted.
What’s the latest on the ground?
Order in Amsterdam had been restored by around 3am local time (02:00 GMT) on Friday, said Police Chief Holla. Heightened security measures remain in place, particularly around Jewish buildings and monuments.
What international reaction has there been?
Israel’s close ally United States President Biden condemned the attacks as “despicable” and said they “echo dark moments in history when Jews were persecuted”.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed shock about the events, a UN spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, criticised Western media outlets for minimising the actions of the Israeli fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv ahead of the clashes.
Dima Said from the Palestine Football Association said the incident’s framing as anti-Semitic was unfortunate. “It was very unfortunate for us as Palestinians, to keep framing this incident [as] anti-Semitic, instead of addressing the main question, which is, why are Israeli clubs like Maccabi Tel Aviv permitted to compete on international stages while Israel is committing acts of genocide, occupation and dispossession of Palestinians?” she said to Al Jazeera, speaking from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
What’s next?
The past few days of violence have raised safety concerns about future matches involving Israeli teams in Europe. Maccabi Tel Aviv’s next scheduled away game in the Europa League is against the Turkish club Besiktas. Turkish authorities have already decided that the match will not be played in Istanbul and are discussing an alternative neutral venue.
Meanwhile, France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau confirmed that the Israeli national football team’s match in Paris for the Nations League would proceed as scheduled on November 14.
An Israeli football fan has described being attacked by several men in overnight violence that Amsterdam police say involved youths on scooters carrying out “hit-and-run” attacks that were hard to prevent.
Adi Reuben, a 24yr-old Maccabi Tel Aviv fan who was visiting Amsterdam for the club’s Europa League match with Ajax, told the BBC he was kicked on the floor by a group of young men who confronted him when he was walking to his hotel.
He said more than 10 men came up to him and his friends and asked them where they were from.
“They shouted ‘Jewish, Jewish, IDF, IDF’,” Mr Reuben said, referring to the Israeli military.
“They started to mess with me and I realised I had to run, but it was dark and I didn’t know where to go. I fell to the floor and ten people were kicking me. They were shouting ‘Palestine’.
“They were kicking me on the floor for about a minute, then they walked off, they weren’t afraid of anything.
“I realised I had full blood on my nose and my nose was broken and it is very painful.”
Mr Reuben said he could not see properly for about 30 minutes after the attack. But he said he decided against going to hospital in Amsterdam because he had heard that taxi drivers were involved in the violence.
Instead he said he was flying to Israel on Friday afternoon on a flight organised by the Israeli government and would get medical treatment there.
“This was a specific attack that was organised beforehand,” he added.
Pnina, another Maccabi Tel Aviv supporter, also told Dutch media organisation NOS that the violence against Israelis appeared pre-planned.
“It seems like it was organised. There was a lot of people. They jumped on us… We hid in the hotels until it was safe to go outside,” she said.
Esther Voet, editor-in-chief of a Dutch Jewish weekly newspaper, lives in the city centre and says she offered her home to shelter several Israeli fans, after she saw footage of the violence.
“I told them this is a Jewish home and you are safe here,” she told Israeli public broadcaster Kann. “People were really scared. I never thought I would go through this in Amsterdam.”
Dutch police said Israeli fans had suffered “serious abuses” during “hit-and-run” attacks many of which were carried out by young men on scooters.
Dozens arrested after post-match violence in Amsterdam
Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said it had proved difficult to prevent such attacks even though police had been present in the city centre in numbers. The force eventually decided to bring Maccabi supporters together and protect them before transporting them out of the area in buses, he said.
Five people were injured but had left hospital and between 20 and 30 more had been lightly hurt, he said.
The attacks overnight into Friday followed some tensions between Maccabi fans and people in Amsterdam over previous days, officials said.
On Wednesday Maccabi fans attacked a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag, police chief Holla said. Taxi drivers then headed towards a location where about 400 Maccabi fans had gathered but police were able to take them out of the area. There were further clashes in Dam Square overnight into Thursday but police were mostly able to keep the groups separate.
On Thursday evening before the match police accompanied pro-Palestinian demonstrators and mostly managed to keep them separate from football fans – but were then unable to prevent attacks later in the evening.
“We are looking back on 36 hours that really shocked me. Supporters from Israel have been attacked and some abused in a terrible way,” Holla said.
“I’m particularly shocked by fact that we’ve had one of largest police actions and we were not able to control or prevent this violence.”
Reuters
There had been tensions between Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and some people in Amsterdam ahead of Thursday night’s violence
Amsterdam’s mayor Femke Halsema said the “war in the Middle East has threatened the peace in our city” and there had been a “terrible outburst of antisemitism”.
She said Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were not considered to pose a threat of violence and there was no animosity between them and fans of Dutch club Ajax.
“I do understand that this reminds us of pogroms and that this happened in Amsterdam is reprehensible. Not only people got injured last night but the history of our city has been deeply damaged, the Jewish culture has been threatened,” she said.
Some Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have previously been involved in racist incidents in Israel, including cursing at the team’s Palestinian and Arab players and reportedly applying pressure on the team to oust them.
Fans of the team have also previously attacked protesters demonstrating against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Asked about video footage appearing to show Maccabi fans in Amsterdam chanting offensive slogans, Mayor Halsema said: “What happened last night has nothing to do with protest. There is no excuse for what happened.”
Additional reporting Shaina Oppenheimer in Jerusalem
Amsterdam — Antisemitic rioters “actively sought out Israeli supporters to attack and assault them” after a soccer match in Amsterdam, authorities in the Netherlands said Friday, with police reporting five people hospitalized and 62 detained after a night of violence between. The police did not mention the nationality of any of those injured or arrested after the scenes of chaos in the Dutch capital.
Israel’s government said it was helping coordinate flights home for Israeli fans caught up in the violence.
Israel was “doing everything to ensure the safety and security of our citizens who were brutally attacked in the horrific anti-Semitic incident in Amsterdam,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “It was decided that it was not necessary to send a professional rescue mission to the Netherlands. Instead, the effort will be focused on providing civil aviation solutions for the recovery of our citizens.”
Israel’s airports authority said the first of two planes being sent to bring citizens of the country home had departed from Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv and was expected to arrive in Amsterdam within a few hours.
Israeli football supporters and Dutch youth clash near Amsterdam Central station, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 8, 2024, in this still image obtained from a social media video.
X/ iAnnet via REUTERS.
Dutch leaders also condemned the violence against the Israeli fans as antisemitic.
The attacks on fans of soccer club Maccabi Tel Aviv came after a Europa League soccer match between their team and the local Amsterdam team Ajax, but there had been clashes between the Israeli fans and locals before the game, too.
The violence erupted despite a ban on a pro-Palestinian demonstration near the soccer stadium imposed by Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, who’d feared clashes would break out between protesters and supporters of the Israeli club.
The violent clashes reportedly occurred around midnight local time, with numerous fights and acts of vandalism in central Amsterdam. Before the game, many Maccabi fans were among hundreds of people marching through Amsterdam in a pro-Israel demonstration, during which flares were lit and Palestinian flags hung on some streets were reportedly torn down. There were clashes with pro-Palestinian residents before the game.
Fans of the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv stage a pro-Israel demonstration at Dam Square in central Amsterdam, Netherlands, lighting flares and chanting slogans ahead of the UEFA Europa League match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and local team Ajax, Nov. 7, 2024.
Mouneb Taim/Anadolu/Getty
In an earlier statement, Netanyahu’s office had said that the prime minister ordered two “rescue planes” to be sent to Amseterdam to evacuate Israeli citizens, but that decision was later reversed. Netanyahu’s office also barred any members of the country’s military from flying to the Netherlands for an indefinite period.
“The harsh pictures of the assault on our citizens in Amsterdam will not be overlooked,” Netanyahu’s office said, adding that Israel’s government “views the premeditated antisemitic attack against Israeli citizens with utmost gravity.”
Netanyahu’s office demanded the Dutch government take “vigorous and swift action” against those involved.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on social media that he followed reports of the violence “with horror.”
“Completely unacceptable antisemitic attacks on Israelis. I am in close contact with everyone involved,” he added, saying he’d spoken with Netanyahu and “emphasized that the perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted. It is now quiet in the capital.”
In a post on the social media platform X, Israeli President Isaac Herzog Israel denounced the attacks as a “pogrom,” referring to the historic racist attacks on Jews in Russia and eastern Europe, and said they were reminiscent of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel that sparked Israel’s ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
The Israeli Embassy in Washington said on X that “hundreds” of Maccabi fans were “ambushed and attacked in Amsterdam tonight as they left the stadium following a game,” according to AFP. The embassy blamed the violence on a “mob who targeted innocent Israelis.”
Geert Wilders, the far-right nationalist lawmaker whose Party for Freedom won elections in the Netherlands last year and who’s a staunch ally of Israel, reacted to a video apparently showing a Maccabi fan being surrounded by several men.
“Looks like a Jew hunt in the streets of Amsterdam. Arrest and deport the multicultural scum that attacked Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters in our streets. Ashamed that this can happen in The Netherlands. Totally unacceptable,” Wilders said.
A man was charged on Thursday, accused of attacking a sports coach at a rugby tournament with an umbrella.
Police say that on July 27, a fight broke out during a rugby game in Salt Lake City, Utah. The coach, Semisi Tupouata, tried to settle it, but was struck multiple times with an umbrella, leaving him unconscious and unable to see out of his right eye, according to a court document shared with Newsweek.
39-year-old Takes Mafileo Vakapuna was charged on Thursday in a district court in Salt Lake City with aggravated assault resulting in serious injury, a second-degree felony.
According to medical documents shared with the Salt Lake City Police Department, Tupouata’s right eye needed surgery to treat traumatic eye injury, and 16 days after the incident he was unable to see out of it.
A policeman with handcuffs. A man was charged on Thursday after attacking a sports coach at a rugby tournament with an umbrella, leaving him with traumatic eye injury. A policeman with handcuffs. A man was charged on Thursday after attacking a sports coach at a rugby tournament with an umbrella, leaving him with traumatic eye injury. Christoph Reichwein/dpa via AP
The report shared with Newsweek stated that Salt Lake City Police Department Officer R. Thomas investigated the incident and spoke to various witnesses. One, Sephina Lialina Afu, reportedly said that Tupouata’s eye was “cut open and swollen shut.” Afu also provided footage of the incident, which police say led them to identify Vakapuna.
Another witness, Eseta Ngalu, said she rushed to help the rugby coach once he was on the ground, after seeing Vakapuna strike him, and later described his eye injury as “gushing with blood.”
Police spoke to three other witnesses who provided information that led to the charges against Vakapuna, according to the report.
According to Neighborhood Scout, Salt Lake City has one of the highest crime rates across American cities, and is the most dangerous place to live in the state, as residents had a one in 13 chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime. Residents have a one in 102 chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime, which includes assault.
