Amsterdam: Football fans engage in violent riots (video)

Following reports of Israeli football fans being injured during riots in Amsterdam, representatives of Jews in Germany have expressed dismay. “These are images of horror,” said the President of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, on Friday on the online service X. “The hunt for Jews has broken out again – these were not riots among fan groups,” he added. Especially in view of the upcoming anniversary of the Reichsprogromnacht on November 9th, it is a “demonstration of poverty that Jews and Israelis can no longer be safe in Western Europe.”

“We have to take this development very seriously,” Schuster continued. “My thoughts are with the often young people who simply wanted to attend their club’s football match. This violence seems possible anywhere,” he warned.

Israeli President Izchak Herzog has expressed his horror at the violence in Amsterdam. “It is with horror that we see this morning the shocking images and videos that we have hoped never to see again since October 7th: an anti-Semitic pogrom against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and Israeli citizens in the heart of Amsterdam,” Herzog wrote on platform X.

There were riots in the Dutch capital on Thursday evening on the sidelines of a Europa League game between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv. According to Dutch broadcaster AT5, there were fights and vandalism in the city center. Israeli and Dutch politicians spoke of “anti-Semitic” violence.

Schuster pointed to what police said was a suspected anti-Semitic incident in Berlin on Sunday, in which a Jewish-Israeli football fan was attacked in a bar. In this case, the police state security agency is investigating.

Israel’s ambassador to Berlin, Ron Prosor, wrote on X that the events in Amsterdam were “a terrible pogrom against Jews and Israelis.” “In large numbers, people on European soil are being violently attacked by Muslim and Palestinian rioters simply because they are Jews,” he added.

According to Israeli reports, Dutch security forces have been warned about the attacks on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam. Israel’s Diaspora Ministry knew in advance about plans to harm a certain Israeli fan who was supposed to work for the Israeli border guard, Israeli media reported. The same applies to a planned attack on a hotel where Israeli football supporters were staying. The Dutch authorities have been informed about this.

In addition, the Diaspora Ministry was also reportedly expecting a violent protest before the start of the football game in front of the Johan Cruijff Arena, which the city administration had actually banned. This insight was also shared with the Netherlands. According to the Dutch police, around 200 demonstrators tried to get to the venue on Thursday evening. The city administration designated another location nearby for the rally.