The mayor of Amsterdam today spoke of of anti-Semitism and hooliganism” that sparked the attacks on Israeli fans after a football match last week.
Femke Halsema also added that “injustices were committed against the Jews of our city as well as people belonging to minorities who are pro-Palestinian.”
Halsema was speaking as part of an emergency meeting of Amsterdam’s city council after the Dutch capital was rocked by attacks on fans of an Israeli football team by men who Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoef said “were of immigrant origin.”
“The Israeli Jewish fans were invited to our city and were persecuted, chased and attacked by anti-Semitic calls on social media and in the streets,” Halsema said.
“But the citizens of Amsterdam were also attacked by Maccabi hooligans shouting racist and hate slogans in our city,” she added.
On the night of November 7-8 after the Europa League match between Ajax Amsterdam and Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv, Maccabi fans were chased and beaten on the streets of Amsterdam.
These attacks, described as anti-Semitic mainly by Israeli and Dutch authorities, resulted in 20 to 30 people being injured and caused outrage in many Western capitals. Groups of Dutch attackers of “immigrant origin,” according to Prime Minister Dick Schoof, led these attacks in response to a call to attack Jews via social media.
Isolated incidents had broken out before the match, including anti-Arab chants shouted by Maccabi fans.
The violence is set against a backdrop of polarisation in Europe, with anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and Islamophobic acts on the rise since war broke out between Israel and the armed Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza.
In the past, anti-Semitism in Europe was rooted in the far right, but today it is also partly fuelled by some circles on the left and Islamists, Agence France-Presse notes.
After the match, groups of men riding scooters attacked Maccabi supporters in some districts of the city.
Police said the attackers were motivated by calls on social media to attack Jews.
Dick Shkhoof yesterday, Monday, promised “strict measures” for suspects in the attacks on the Israeli team’s fans.
