Days after war in the Middle East briefly turned Amsterdam into a conflict zone, the locals are still conflicted. What happened here during one senseless night of violence between fans of Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv after a Europa League football match has become the subject of domestic and international scandal, followed by soul-searching.
Walking around the city centre, the question of what happened here is on everyone’s minds. “They were asking for it,” says one young man outside a café. “Maybe, but Jews have been afraid to walk around with a yarmulke on for a while now,” responds another.
And it’s true. It would be disingenuous to say that the riots came out of the blue. Since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, the atmosphere in Amsterdam has been tense, with many people – not just from Muslim backgrounds – venting their rage at Benjamin Netanyahu and his government. As a result, many in the city’s small remaining Jewish community have felt increasingly threatened. And now this.
On the night it happened, a ceremony was being held in Amsterdam’s 17th century Portuguese synagogue to commemorate Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom of 1938. Following the outbreak of violence, a subsequent Kristallnacht commemoration was cancelled. Organisers felt its safety could not be guaranteed.
Dozens of Maccabi fans ended up wounded, five so badly that they needed hospital treatment and the Amsterdam police eventually arrested more than 60 people for their role in the disturbances, apparently all for violence against Israelis. In one video, a man is seen in an Amsterdam canal being made to say “Free Palestine”.
Other videos of the night also show provocative behaviour and anti-Arab chants by Maccabi supporters. The Times of Israel reported that, on their return to Israel, Maccabi fans continued to chant anti-Arab racist slurs in Ben Gurion airport.
Now, our town has become the subject of international diplomatic condemnation. Even US president Joe Biden felt the need to weigh in, stating on Twitter/X: “The Antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam are despicable and echo dark moments in history when Jews were persecuted.”
Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, banned all demonstrations following the incidents and issued emergency stop and search powers to the police. She is from the generally pro-Palestinian Green-Left party and has been repeatedly accused, especially by right-wing politicians, of giving pro-Palestinian activists too much leeway.
On the night of the match, the mayor had moved an anti-Israel demonstration one kilometre away from the Ajax stadium. But there was already widespread anger in the Jewish community at earlier decisions to allow anti-Israel protests at the opening of the city’s new Holocaust Museum in March and at the commemoration of the October 7 attack by Hamas.
In her statement after the recent riots, Halsema was clear that, in her view, what occurred was not regular football violence, nor was it only provoked by Israeli fans. The people who were arrested, she said, were “hate-filled, antisemitic rioters and criminals”.
Maccabi fans tore down several Palestinian flags, which have been prominent in many parts of the city, including the centre. In comparison, the Israeli flag is almost absent around here and displaying it can get your windows broken – and that was even before the start of this latest war.
“I don’t mind them being here,” one man said about the Maccabi fans in a news clip. “But waving that flag is just provocative.”
The question of who started it is a tough one. There were rumours that the trigger was an altercation between Maccabi fans and taxi drivers, who then organised themselves via WhatsApp and went after the Israelis. Other media reports mentioned “hit and run” attacks on Maccabi fans by small groups of pro-Palestinian activists.
Amsterdam’s mayor, Halsema, was keenly aware of the damage to her city’s reputation. “This doesn’t look good internationally,” she said. “I’m furious.”
For many of Amsterdam’s Jews, the city in which they once thrived has started to feel like a hostile place. Prominent members of the community, young and old, have told me that they are hesitant to be too closely identified as Jewish. They now fear being targeted as supporters of Israel’s war – even if they’re not.
