Israel Urges Soccer Fans Not to Attend Upcoming Paris Game After Antisemitic Attacks in Amsterdam

Israel has urged its citizens not to attend the Israeli national soccer team’s upcoming match in Paris this week, in light of the violent antisemitic attacks against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam last week.

“In the past few days, there have been calls among pro-Palestinian/terrorist-supporter groups to harm Israelis and Jews, under the pretense of demonstrations and protests, taking advantage of mass gatherings (sports and cultural events) to maximize the damage and the media coverage,” Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) said in a public alert issued on Sunday. It additionally noted that “preparations to harm Israelis have been identified in several European cities,” including Brussels, “major cities” in the United Kingdom, Amsterdam, and Paris, where a UEFA Nations League match between Israel and France is set to take place in the city on Thursday at the stadium, Stade de France.

“Given the dynamics of these incidents: independent parties who group online, their broad presence in various countries around the world, actual attempts to hold demonstrations and protests (some of them violent), and concerns that supporters of terrorism/lone wolf attackers will try to blend into these riots with the goal of carrying out an attack — The National Security Council recommends that Israelis abroad … In the coming week, categorically avoid attending Israeli sports/cultural events abroad, and specifically the Israeli teams’ upcoming match in Paris,” the NSC statement read.

The NSC also recommended that Israelis traveling abroad should stay away from all demonstrations and protests, avoid identifying in public as Israeli or Jewish, and check ahead of time if their travel destination can be “problematic” because of demonstrations, riots, crime, or “population of immigrants from countries that are hostile to Israel.”

Late Thursday night and in the early hours of Friday morning last week, hundreds of Israeli soccer fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv were attacked by anti-Israel and antisemitic gangs in Amsterdam following a match between the Israeli team and their Dutch rivals Ajax. The NSC said a “pro-Palestinian mob” led the violence “in what appeared to be a coordinated attack.” Israeli officials said 10 citizens were injured in the violence.

More than 60 suspects were arrested in connection to the attacks, and Amsterdam prosecutors said that four of the suspects, including two minors, remained jailed Saturday and would be arraigned this week, The Associated Press reported. Maccabi Tel Aviv fans returned home to Israel over the weekend following the violence in Amsterdam, and among them were over 170 witnesses of the attacks and more than 230 victims, Israel police said.

Dutch officials and leaders from around the world, including US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, condemned the violence as antisemitic and many of them described the attacks as a “pogrom.”

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced on Sunday that he canceled his trip to Azerbaijan for the United Nations Climate Change Conference so that he can stay in the Netherlands to deal with the aftermath of the attacks. He has since talked about the incident with representatives of Amsterdam’s Jewish community, Israel’s new Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, and on Tuesday he will hold talks with Jewish and social organizations about combating antisemitism.

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau confirmed on Friday that the France-Israel match will take place in Paris as planned, despite pressure from pro-Palestinian activists to cancel the game. French President Emmanuel Macron will attend the game and 4,000 police officers will be deployed around Stade de France for Thursday’s match to ensure security in and around the stadium, according to French news broadcaster BFM TV.

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