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

Pro-Palestinian protesters face Dutch police while taking part in a non-authorized protest in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Nov. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Anthony Deutsch

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.

The post Israel Urges Soccer Fans Not to Attend Upcoming Paris Game After Antisemitic Attacks in Amsterdam first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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