Macron to attend France-Israel football match to show 'fraternity' with Jewish fans attacked in Amsterdam

French President Emmanuel Macron will attend Thursday’s France-Israel football match at the Stade de France in a show of “fraternity and solidarity” following attacks on Jewish fans in Amsterdam last week.

According to The Guardian report, thousands of additional police officers will be deployed for the match, set against the backdrop of rising tensions from the ongoing Gaza conflict.

The Elysée said that while Macron’s presence is to demonstrate his full support for the French team, as he does for every match, it also aims to send a strong message of unity after the “intolerable acts of antisemitism” that followed the game in Amsterdam, added the report.

Meanwhile, authorities in the Netherlands are investigating how Israeli football hooliganism, antisemitism, and local tensions related to the Gaza war sparked violence on the streets of Amsterdam.

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Amsterdam’s police chief Peter Holla reported  “incidents on both sides,” beginning Wednesday night when Maccabi Tel Aviv fans tore down a Palestinian flag, burned another, and destroyed a taxi. A video showed Maccabi fans chanting, “olé, olé, let the IDF win, we will f*** the Arabs.”

On Thursday, Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, condemned “antisemitic hit-and-run squads” targeting Maccabi supporters, with social media calls to attack Jews. Footage showed Maccabi fans being beaten, one man pleading with an attacker who shouted, “You want to kill kids? … Free Palestine.”

Five people were hospitalised and up to 30 injured. Four suspects are in custody, with a court appearance expected this week. The city and nearby Amstelveen are in a state of emergency, and pro-Palestine protests were banned over the weekend, reported The Guardian.

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Organisers criticised the portrayal of the unrest as antisemitic, claiming it was being “weaponized” to suppress Palestinian resistance. Amsterdam’s city council will hold an emergency debate on the situation Tuesday.

In France, Paris police prefect Laurent Nuñez called the upcoming game “high-risk” and said security would be “extremely reinforced,” with measures unusual for a national team match.

According to the report, while no limit has been set on stadium attendance, the French football federation has sold about 20,000 tickets — 25% of the Stade de France’s capacity. To ensure safety, 4,000 to 5,000 police officers and gendarmes will be deployed, up from the usual 1,300 for a sold-out match.

In addition, 1,600 security staff will assist, and an elite police unit will protect the Israeli team, added the report.

“The [interior] minister has made available to me the resources of the internal security force, which will enable us to be extremely reactive and prevent any excesses, any disturbances to public order, either during the match, or in the immediate vicinity of the match, or on the route of spectators who will be going to the match," The Guardian quoted Nuñez as saying.

French authorities rejected a request from hard-left lawmaker Thomas Portes to ban a pro-Israel demonstration and gala in Paris on Wednesday, organised by the group Israel Is Forever as a “mobilisation of French-speaking Zionist forces.”

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof condemned the “antisemitic violence against Israelis” and is set to meet with Jewish groups on Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likened the Amsterdam violence to Kristallnacht, the 1938 Nazi pogrom.

Israel’s government has offered to assist in the investigation but pressured the Netherlands for tougher action. Israel’s foreign minister criticised the low number of arrests, all made before Thursday’s match, despite ongoing anti-Israeli violence that evening.

“The mayor of Amsterdam informed me that they formed a special inquiry team, but I can tell that until now, the number of arrests is very low,” Gideon Saar was quoted as saying in Jerusalem.

Israeli authorities have advised supporters not to attend the match in France and said Israelis abroad should avoid “recognisable Israeli or Jewish symbols”.

The Israeli national security council said on Sunday, “Groups that want to attack Israelis have been identified in a number of European cities” at the time of the planned match of the Israeli national team. It named Brussels, a number of British cities, Amsterdam and Paris.

With inputs from agencies