Planes On Way To Evacuate Israeli Soccer Fans After 'Willful Attack' In Amsterdam

Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters in Amsterdam ahead of the game against Ajax.

Israel is sending chartered planes to Amsterdam to bring back Israeli soccer fans after they were attacked following a match on November 7 by what Mayor Femke Halsema described as "anti-Semitic hit-and-run squads."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called the incidents "anti-Semitic attacks," initially announced he was sending two planes to Amsterdam to evacuate the Israeli football fans, but his office later said that Israeli airlines El Al and Israir have set up special flights for free on November 8 and November 9 to do the job.

Amsterdam police said that 62 people were detained following the violence, with 10 still in custody on November 8 in connection with the clashes -- which left five people hospitalized -- in the center of Amsterdam between young locals and Israeli supporters who had come to watch Maccabi Tel Aviv's game against Ajax Amsterdam in the Europa League competition.

Dutch authorities said there was no concrete threat to Israeli soccer fans before the game and that it was not clear how or precisely when the violence began.

Peter Holla, the city's acting police chief, told a news conference that the Israeli fans were “willfully attacked."

Police said fans had left the stadium without incident after the game was won 5-0 by Ajax, but various clashes in the city center were reported during the night.

Earlier, a pro-Palestinian protest against Maccabi's visit scheduled to take place near the stadium was banned by Dutch authorities for security reasons amid rising tensions in the Middle East.

"This is a very dark moment for the city, for which I am deeply ashamed," Halsema told a news conference.

"Anti-Semitic criminals attacked and assaulted visitors to our city, in hit-and-run actions," Halsema said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the attacks on the Israeli supporters as "vile" and said she discussed them with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof.

"Outraged by last night's vile attacks targeting Israeli citizens in Amsterdam," von der Leyen said in a post on X. "I strongly condemn these unacceptable acts. Antisemitism has absolutely no place in Europe. And we are determined to fight all forms of hatred."

SEE ALSO: Israel's Wars In Gaza And Lebanon Fray Relations With Europe

Anti-Israeli protests have been held in various parts of the world, including in Western Europe amid Israel's war in the Gaza Strip against Iran-backed Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist group by the United States and the EU, following the group's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people.

The conflict has spilled outside of Gaza and into southern Lebanon against Iran-backed Hezbollah -- designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its political party. Hezbollah’s political party has seats in the Lebanese parliament.

Schoof said he was "horrified" by the incidents. which he called "completely unacceptable." He said he told Netanyahu that those who are guilty would be "identified and prosecuted."

Netanyahu told Schoof that he "views the premeditated anti-Semitic attack against Israeli citizens with the utmost seriousness and requested increased security for the Jewish community in the Netherlands," the Israeli prime minister's office said.

Video posted online also purported to show Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans in the streets ahead of the game.

Maccabi fans are known to have used similar chants in Israel at recent matches there.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he had talked to Dutch King Willem-Alexander on the phone, who had voiced "deep horror and shock over the criminal acts committed."

The Israeli Embassy in the United States said on X that "hundreds" of Maccabi fans were "ambushed and attacked in Amsterdam tonight as they left the stadium following a game against Ajax."

"The mob who targeted these innocent Israelis has proudly shared their violent acts on social media," the embassy said in its message accompanied by a video of violent clashes in the city.

Israel also said it had banned members of its military from traveling to the Netherlands.