Israel Sends Plane To Netherlands Brings Supporter Maccabi Tel Aviv After Clashes

JAKARTA - Israel sent commercial aircraft to the Netherlands to bring home Israeli football fans after an attack last night in Amsterdam.

Videos on social media showed antihuru-hara police intervene in the clashes, and several attackers shouted anti-Israeli insults. However, several footage also showed Israeli supporters shouting anti-Arab slogans before Thursday's match.

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said supporters of the Tel Aviv Maccabi were attacked, tortured and thrown with fireworks.

The riot police intervened to protect them and escort them to the hotel. Five people were reportedly hospitalized.

Security measures were stepped up in the city, where hundreds gathered on Thursday to commemorate the Crystallnacht, the Nazi pogrom against Jews across Germany on November 9-10, 1938.

Antisemitism incidents have increased in the Netherlands since Israel launched its attack on Gaza following an attack on Israel by the Palestinian Hamas group on October 7, 2023.

Many Jewish organizations and schools report threats and hate letters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said orders to send planes were taken after a "very violent incident" targeting Israelis after a match between Maccabi and Ajax Amsterdam, traditionally identified as Jewish clubs.

Videos verified by Reuters showed a group of men running near Amsterdam's central station, chasing and attacking another man, as police sirens sounded.

However, another verified video shows Maccabi fans lighting flares and chanting "Ole, OLE, let the IDF win, we will beat Arabs", referring to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said his horror with the anti-Semitic attack on Israelis, which he called totally unacceptable.

Schoof said he had assured Netanyahu by telephone that the perpetrators would be identified and tried.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with Dutch King Willem-Alexander, who he said expressed surprise at the criminal acts committed.

Herzog quoted the king as saying the Netherlands had disappointed the Jewish community during the Second World War under Nazi occupation and persecution and also on Thursday evening.