RSS
Netanyahu Dispatches Airplanes to Rescue Israeli Soccer Fans Following Violent ‘Pogrom’ Attacks in Amsterdam
Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters are guarded by police after violence targeting Israeli football fans broke out in Amsterdam overnight, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Nov. 8, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ami Shooman/Israel Hayom
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered planes to be dispatched to Amsterdam to bring home Israeli fans of the soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv who were violently assaulted in the city by a mob in what witnesses and leaders described as pre-planned antisemitic assaults on late Thursday night and into the early hours of Friday.
“The Prime Minister has directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to assist our citizens. The harsh pictures of the assault on our citizens in Amsterdam will not be overlooked,” read a statement from Netanyahu’s office. “Prime Minister Netanyahu views the horrifying incident with utmost gravity and demands that the Dutch government and security forces take vigorous and swift action against the rioters, and ensure the safety of our citizens.”
Both former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and current Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon called the violence a “pogrom.” Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on X that he has been in constant contact with the Israel Police, who have been coordinating with Dutch law enforcement to “rescue the Israeli citizens, and to investigate the serious lynching incidents in the Netherlands.”
“Fans who went to see a soccer game encountered antisemitism and were attacked with unimaginable cruelty just because of their Jewishness and Israeliness. I condemn any attempt to make the victim guilty,” Ben-Gvir added. “This is not only an injury to Jews and Israelis, but a warning sign to all European countries against radical Muslim violence. Those who turn a blind eye to Islamic terrorism in the Middle East will meet it at home in Europe and the West. Today the victims were Israelis, tomorrow it will be you Europeans.”
Israel’s newly minted Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he was in contact with authorities in the Netherlands about the violence and posted a hotline for Israelis and Jews in danger.
Hundreds of Israeli fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv reported facing a wave of violence from antisemitic, anti-Israel gangs of men late Thursday night and into the early hours of Friday. They were attacked before and after Maccabi Tel Aviv lost its match against the Dutch soccer team AFC Ajax as part of the UEFA Europa League. Ajax won the match 5-0.
Numerous graphic videos circulating on social media showed multiple street fights, and Israelis being chased down the street with knives and sticks, beaten and run over by cars. In multiple incidents shared on social media, Israeli soccer fans were forced by their attackers to say “Free Palestine.” Some Israeli soccer fans reportedly barricaded themselves in buildings, shops, and other places in the city to avoid the attacks.
“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.
According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, up to 20 of its nationals were injured.
Police initially said they were also investigating reports of abductions during the attacks and a potential hostage situation. However, Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that all Israelis had been contacted and accounted for, according to Ynet.
An Israeli who survived the attacks, Yarin Hay Itzhak, wrote about his experience on X and said in a Hebrew-language post that he was punched in the face and kicked in the stomach. He was in Amsterdam with two friends, one of whom “was kidnapped and bled for hours” but ultimately survived the onslaught.
“It’s unbelievable that we had to run away from thousands of Muslims on the streets of Amsterdam and get some Israelis into KFC when the police are out there in small numbers and don’t know how to handle the event,” he added. “They didn’t bring a doctor to everyone who was injured there because ‘there is no way to help you.’ The Muslims tried to run over, kidnap, beat, and murder. Everyone who is there, catch a flight and return to Israel.”
Dutch nationals of Turkish descent reportedly chased a Maccabi Tel Aviv fan after stealing his passport and then pushed him into a river, according to Ynet. Maariv reported that there was at least one attempt to kidnap an Israeli.
“They waited in groups at every corner, and as soon as they recognized Jews, they started chasing them,” one Israeli who witnessed the violence told Israel’s Kan 11 news. “Others waited near hotels and near the casino in larger groups, and there they also attacked fans. Then others drove by with cars and did not stop honking near hotels in which Israelis are staying.”
“The police were not present at the conclusion of the games, and Muslims were waiting near train stations for Israeli fans and followed them,” another Israeli told Kan 11. “The police only started to intervene after about half an hour to 45 minutes into the attacks, after the attackers threw firecrackers at people and into buildings.”
Local police escorted some of the Israeli soccer fans back to their hotels, the Netherlands’ RTL reported. The attacks took place hours after the Netherlands commemorated the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the infamous Nazi assault on the German Jewish community in 1938.
Danon posted a graphic video of the violence Thursday night on X.
“These are the true faces of the supporters of the radical terrorism we are fighting. The western world needs to wake up now!!” he wrote. “This is the time when the UN should immediately and clearly condemn the violence of the Palestinians and their supporters. The Dutch authorities must take decisive action against terrorism now.”
The Israel’s Embassy to the US also posted a video of the violence on X. “Hundreds of fans of the @MaccabiTLVFC soccer team were ambushed and attacked in Amsterdam tonight as they left the stadium following a game against @AFCAjax,” the post read.” The mob who targeted these innocent Israelis has proudly shared their violent acts on social media.”
The embassy included the number for a hotline that Israelis in Amsterdam can call if they need assistance.
The post Netanyahu Dispatches Airplanes to Rescue Israeli Soccer Fans Following Violent ‘Pogrom’ Attacks in Amsterdam first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Smotrich Says Defense Ministry to Spur Voluntary Emigration from Gaza
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
i24 News – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday that the government would establish an administration to encourage the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
“We are establishing a migration administration, we are preparing for this under the leadership of the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and Defense Minister [Israel Katz],” he said at a Land of Israel Caucus at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. “The budget will not be an obstacle.”
Referring to the plan championed by US President Donald Trump, Smotrich noted the “profound and deep hatred towards Israel” in Gaza, adding that “sources in the American government” agreed “that it’s impossible for two million people with hatred towards Israel to remain at a stone’s throw from the border.”
The administration would be under the Defense Ministry, with the goal of facilitating Trump’s plan to build a “Riviera of the Middle East” and the relocation of hundreds of thousands of Gazans for rebuilding efforts.
“If we remove 5,000 a day, it will take a year,” Smotrich said. “The logistics are complex because you need to know who is going to which country. It’s a potential for historical change.”
The post Smotrich Says Defense Ministry to Spur Voluntary Emigration from Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Defense Ministry: 16,000 Wounded in War, About Half Under 30
A general view shows the plenum at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – The Knesset’s (Israeli parliament’s) Special Committee for Foreign Workers held a discussion on Sunday to examine the needs of wounded and disabled IDF soldiers and the response foreign caregivers could provide.
During the discussion, data from the Defense Minister revealed that the number of registered IDF wounded and disabled veterans rose from 62,000 to 78,000 since the war began on October 7, 2023. “Most of them are reservists and 51 percent of the wounded are up to 30 years old,” the ministry’s report said. The number will increase, the ministry assesses, as post-trauma cases emerge.
The committee chairwoman, Knesset member Etty Atiya (Likud), emphasized the need to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy for the wounded and to remove obstacles. “There is no dispute that the IDF disabled have sacrificed their bodies and souls for the people of Israel, for the state of Israel,” she said. Addressing the veterans, she continued: “And we, as public representatives and public servants alike, must do everything, but everything, to improve your lives in any way possible, to alleviate your pain and the distress of your family members who are no less affected than you.”
Currently, extensions are being given to the IDF veterans on a three-month basis, which Atiya said creates uncertainty and fear among the patients.
“The committee calls on the Interior Minister [Moshe Arbel] to approve as soon as possible the temporary order on our table, so that it will reach the approval of the Knesset,” she said, adding that she “intends to personally approach the Director General of the Population Authority [Shlomo Mor-Yosef] on the matter in order to promote a quick and stable solution.”
The post Defense Ministry: 16,000 Wounded in War, About Half Under 30 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Over 1,300 Killed in Syria as New Regime Accused of Massacring Civilians
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with Sky News Arabia in Damascus, Syria in this handout picture released by the Syrian Presidency on August 8, 2023. Syrian Presidency/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Over 1,300 people were killed in two days of fighting in Syria between security forces under the new Syrian Islamist leaders and fighters from ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect on the other hand, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday.
Since Thursday, 1,311 people had been killed, according to the Observatory, including 830 civilians, mainly Alawites, 231 Syrian government security personnel, and 250 Assad loyalists.
The intense fighting broke out late last week as the Alawite militias launched an offensive against the new government’s fighters in the coastal region of the country, prompting a massive deployment ordered by new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
“We must preserve national unity and civil peace as much as possible and… we will be able to live together in this country,” al-Sharaa said, as quoted in the BBC.
The death toll represents the most severe escalations since Assad was ousted late last year, and is one of the most costly in terms of human lives since the civil war began in 2011.
The counter-offensive launched by al-Sharaa’s forces was marked by reported revenge killings and atrocities in the Latakia region, a stronghold of the Alawite minority in the country.
The post Over 1,300 Killed in Syria as New Regime Accused of Massacring Civilians first appeared on Algemeiner.com.