Attack on Israeli fans in Amsterdam was 'poisonous cocktail of anti-Semitism and hooliganism': Mayor Femke Halsema

The attacks on Israeli fans after a football match in Amsterdam last week were a “poisonous cocktail” of anti-Semitism with hooliganism on both sides, the city’s mayor said on Tuesday. Mayor Femke Halsema was speaking at an emergency meeting of the Amsterdam city council days after the Dutch capital was rocked by violence between Israeli football fans and men on scooters in several areas of the city.

“The incident was a poisonous cocktail of anti-Semitism and hooliganism,” Halsema said, adding that “injustice has been done to both Jews in our city as well as people of minorities who sympathise with the Palestinians”.

Also Read | Israeli football fans raised anti-Arab slogans, burned Palestinian flag before being attacked: Report

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof has described the attackers as men “with a migration background”.

‘Jewish Israeli supporters were hunted and attacked’

In attacks that sparked outrage around the world, Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were briefly hospitalised after coming under assault following a match with the local Ajax team on Thursday evening.

“Jewish Israeli supporters were guests in our city and they were sought, hunted and attacked via anti-Semitic calls on social media and on the streets,” Halsema said.

“But Amsterdammers were also attacked by Maccabi hooligans who chanted racist and hateful slogans in our city,” Halsema added.

Maccabi fans set fire to a Palestinian flag on the city’s central square and vandalised a taxi the day before the clash, police said.

The mayor however stressed that “even though a more complete picture emerged” of the evening’s events, “and all sorts of terrible things happened, it in no way negates that a ‘hunt for Jews’,” was called for.

After Thursday’s match, groups of men on scooters engaged in “hit-and-run” attacks on Maccabi fans in areas of the city.

Halsema said the situation after the game at the Johan Cruyff Arena, to the southeast of the city, “was under control until these hit-and-run incidents”.

“Then a situation developed which the police could not tackle with the current force available,” she said.

That is also when the first reports appeared on social media calling for the specific targeting of Israeli Maccabi supporters and a “Jew hunt”.

Halsema said Jewish institutions in the city including synagogues were not targeted and the attacks were “purely aimed at Israeli Maccabi supporters”.

Asked by some council members why the game was not cancelled because of the given security considerations, Halsema said “we have taken all possible measures ahead of the game,” based on security assessments.

“But what you ask me then is to forbid a team because it’s Israeli,” she said.

Police also said the attackers were mobilised by calls on social media to target Jewish people.

The clashes came amid a rise in anti-Semitism globally since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Dutch PM Schoof calls for ‘urgent measures’

Dutch premier Schoof on Monday promised “hard action” against those guilty of the attacks.

“We need to take urgent measures to ensure that our Jewish community feels safe and secure in this country,” Schoof said after meeting members of the Jewish leaders at his official residence in The Hague on Tuesday.

He again called for quick arrests in the case, adding that there was an “integration problem in the Netherlands”.

The Dutch premier said his government would present more concrete plans to fight anti-Semitism on Friday.

Meanwhile, an international football match between France and Israel was set to go ahead on Thursday amid heightened security in the French capital.