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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is sending two aircraft to the Netherlands to retrieve football fans after pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with fans of a Tel Aviv club.
Videos on social media showed at least one man being assaulted and crowds running through the streets. Fans told Israeli media that they were confronted by young Arab men after the Europa League game between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The Israeli foreign ministry said at least 10 people were injured, and that it had lost contact with some of its citizens visiting the Netherlands.
The authorities in Amsterdam said in a statement on Friday that they had to intervene multiple times to protect Israeli fans.
They said the incident “was very turbulent with several incidents of violence aimed at Maccabi supporters”. The authorities are investigating the scale of the violence that led to injuries, they added.
The local authorities — which include the mayor, police chief and chief public prosecutor — are in contact with the Dutch government, the Israeli embassy and representatives of the Jewish community in Amsterdam.
They said extra police forces would be available “to monitor and control the situation” with additional security of Jewish institutions.
Netanyahu described the incident as “horrifying”, in a statement from his office issued after a phone call with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof.
Netanyahu said he “views with utmost gravity the planned antisemitic attack against Israeli citizens and requested that security be increased for the Dutch Jewish community”.
Schoof wrote on X that he was “horrified by the antisemitic attacks on Israeli citizens”, adding that the perpetrators would be prosecuted.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also described the violence as an “antisemitic pogrom”.
The clashes took place despite the Amsterdam mayor banning any pro-Palestinian protests near the stadium.
Maccabi Tel Aviv is the oldest and most successful Israeli football team, winning the most league championships of any club in the country. The club’s website describes its values as steeped in Israeli history, with the team taking its name from the Maccabis, an ancient Jewish rebel army.
Israeli media said many fans had locked themselves in their hotel rooms and demanded police escorts to the airport.
Dutch far right leader Geert Wilders, an ally of Netanyahu, seized upon the clashes to demand deportations of the “multicultural scum”.
“We have become the Gaza of Europe,” he said on X. “Muslims with Palestinian flags hunting down Jews.”
Israeli and European rightwing leaders have found common ground in recent years in suggesting that rising antisemitism is closely tied to Arab and Muslim immigration to western Europe.
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