TEL AVIV, Israel — A plane bringing Israeli soccer fans from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.”

Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which broke out after a Europa League soccer match between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Israeli flag carrier El Al said it would send six planes to the Netherlands to take fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israel Airports Authority said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered the Mossad spy agency to come up with a plan to prevent riots at sporting events in the future.

Israeli fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer club arrive safely from Amsterdam to Ben Gurion Airport in the western Israeli city of Tel Aviv on November 8, 2024. EPA PHOTO

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said the city had been “deeply damaged” by “hateful anti-Semitic rioters” who chased and attacked fans of Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv in a night of “unbearable” violence.

Halsema described gangs on scooters attacking fans of the Israeli club, punching and kicking them in “hit-and-run” attacks, leaving five people hospitalized.

“This is an outbreak of anti-Semitism that I hope to never see again,” Halsema said, adding that she was “embarrassed” by the violence.

Despite the “sports” atmosphere in the stadium and a huge police presence, the authorities were unable to stop the rapid attacks on fans in various parts of the city.

‘Incidents on both sides’

Officers made 62 arrests in total, but Police Chief Peter Holla said the rioters’ hit-and-run tactics made it “exceptionally” difficult to prevent the attacks.

He said 800 officers had been deployed, a very large number for Amsterdam, adding that “we spent weeks preparing” for the match.

The Palestinian Football Association took a different view of the sequence of events in Amsterdam, insisting that the violence had begun with the “deplorable incitement to violence, anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia expressed by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans”.

He said Israeli fans had “attacked houses and shops displaying the Palestinian flag” and complained that he was still waiting for “concrete measures” from world football’s governing body, FIFA, in response to the extensive evidence he had presented. .

Amsterdam’s police chief provided some support for the PFA’s allegations, stating that “incidents had occurred on both sides” on Wednesday, 24 hours before the match.

He said Maccabi supporters had “removed a flag from a façade in Rokin and destroyed a taxi”.

“A Palestinian flag was set on fire at the dam,” he added, referring to Amsterdam’s central square.

In scenes showing tensions, an unverified social media video purportedly filmed on Thursday appeared to show some Maccabi fans chanting in Hebrew: “Let the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) win! We’ll screw the Arabs.” !”.

Israeli authorities urged their citizens in Amsterdam to stay in their hotels and avoid displaying Israeli or Jewish symbols if they went out.

UN ‘shocked’

Netanyahu’s office warned fans not to attend a Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball game in the Italian city of Bologna on Friday, citing “calls… on social media to harm Israelis and Jews.”

In the end there were no incidents in the Euroleague match, which Virtus Bologna won 84-77.

Following the football-related violence, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof denounced the “terrible anti-Semitic attack”.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was “outraged” by the “vile attacks.”

US President Joe Biden said the “despicable” attacks “echo dark moments in history when Jews were persecuted.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “shocked by the violence,” said his spokeswoman Stephanie Tremblay. “It condemns all forms of anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim intolerance,” he added. AFP