Israel Sends Rescue Planes to Amsterdam After Antisemitic Pogrom

Israeli air carrier El Al is sending planes to Amsterdam on Shabbat to evacuate Israelis, after the Israeli Defense Forces said it was standing down on a plan to “immediately deploy a rescue mission” to the city, Fox News reported.

Israel’s Transportation Ministry instructed El Al and Israir to add three flights to Amsterdam to rescue Israelis in addition to the three regularly scheduled flights. Israelis whose passports were stolen or lost will be allowed to board the flights without passports.

“The police have launched a major investigation into multiple violent incidents. So far, it is known that five people have been taken to the hospital and 62 individuals have been arrested,” Amsterdam Police said in a statement.

Hundreds of Israeli soccer fans were lynched by Muslims in the Netherlands where they had gathered to watch the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team play against Ajax in Amsterdam on Thursday evening.

The attack was coordinated beforehand, with hundreds of Arabs waiting to attack Jews after the match at train stations, hotels, and casinos. About 3,000 Israelis had flown to the Netherlands for the game. Israeli security officials had warned Dutch authorities about a planned attack and were ignored, Israeli media reported.

Jews were run over by cars, stabbed, beaten, and coerced into shouting: “Free Palestine” in Arabic – “Frei Palestine.” In at least one case, an Israeli was thrown into a canal and forced to yell “Free Palestine” before he was extracted from the water.

Many of the Arabs filmed their attacks and posted them on social media, showing Jews being beaten and humiliated. Photos of stolen Israeli passports are also circulating on social media.

A number of Israelis were reported as missing and unreachable, though everyone has since been accounted for, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said. Other Israelis reported that Arabs tried to abduct Jews.

The Dutch police were nowhere to be found. One Israeli told Kan News: “There were no police around at the end of the game and Arabs were waiting near the train station to attack Israelis. The police began intervening only 30-45 minutes after the attacks began and only after Arabs began throwing firecrackers at people and into buildings.”

An Israeli who identified himself as Dan said that as Israelis walked from the central train station on the main street, they were attacked by groups of 10 to 15 Arabs waiting on every block, who beat them with sticks. The situation continued for over an hour before the police arrived.

“They were waiting on every street corner, some on motorbikes, and after asking us where we were from, tried to block our way or run us over,” another Israeli said. “If you didn’t answer them, they started beating you up. Within seconds more people join in. Me and my friend were captured a number of times, I can barely walk.”

Israel’s Channel 12 News reported that a Telegram group for cab drivers in the Netherlands [many Muslims in European cities are cab drivers] was used to coordinate the lynchings of Israeli soccer fans, with group members sharing locations of Israelis and videos of violent attacks. One group member wrote: “Hang Palestinian flags around the city, they will come there like rats.”

Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry revealed on Friday morning that Dutch security officials had received three separate warnings about the possibility of attacks against Israelis, including a warning about violent protests, harming an individual fan who is an Israeli Border Police officer, and a warning that Arabs were planning to raid the Leonardo Hotel where Israelis were staying.

The ministry said that the warnings were sent to Dutch security forces who were responsible for the security of the fans by the Shin Bet and the Prime Minister’s Office. The Border Police officer was also informed of the threat by Israeli security officials.

“Unfortunately, the local forces failed in their mission of protecting Israeli soccer fans,” the Diaspora Affairs Ministry stated: “As of 3:30 a.m., we have transferred additional information from the networks which are assisting the security forces.”

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema described as “antisemitic hit-and-run squads.”

“This is a very dark moment for the city, for which I am deeply ashamed,” Halsema said at a news conference.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands a short while ago, his office said in a readout of the call.

Herzog told the King that the events in Amsterdam, where Israeli soccer fans were attacked by an anti-Israel mob, was reminiscent of “dark and grim times for the Jewish people” and stressed that it must be “unequivocally condemned,” the President’s Office says.

He reiterated his expectation for the Dutch authorities to do everything within their power to ensure the safety of all Israelis and Jews in the Netherlands going forward.

The King expressed “deep horror and shock” over the attack, the statement says, and told Herzog: “We failed the Jewish community of the Netherlands during World War II, and last night we failed again.”