By Anthony Deutsch and Bart H. Meijer

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Israel was sending commercial planes to the Netherlands on Friday to bring home Israeli soccer fans after overnight attacks in Amsterdam that officials described as anti-Semitic, although there was evidence of provocative chanting by fans Israelis.

Videos on social media showed police intervening in the clashes, with some attackers shouting anti-Israeli slurs. But some footage also showed Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans before Thursday night’s game.

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters had been “attacked, abused and had fireworks thrown at them” and that police had intervened to protect them and escort them to hotels. At least five people were treated in hospital, she said.

Security was heightened in the city, where hundreds of people gathered Thursday to commemorate Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom against Jews across Germany on November 9-10, 1938.

Anti-Semitic incidents have increased in the Netherlands since Israel launched its attack on Gaza following attacks on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas on 7 October 2023, with many Jewish organizations and schools reporting threats and hate mail.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the order to send planes came after “a very violent incident” targeting Israeli citizens after the match between Maccabi and Ajax Amsterdam, traditionally identified as a Jewish club.

A video verified by Reuters showed a group of men running near Amsterdam Central Station, chasing and assaulting other men as police sirens blared.

However, another verified video showed Maccabi fans firing rockets and chanting “Ole, ole, let the IDF win, we’ll fuck the Arabs”, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he was “appalled by the anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli citizens”, which he called “completely unacceptable”.

Schoof said he assured Netanyahu by phone that “the perpetrators will be identified and prosecuted.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke to Dutch King Willem-Alexander, who he said “expressed his deep horror and shock at the criminal acts committed”.

Herzog quoted the king as saying that the Netherlands had failed its Jewish community during World War II – under Nazi occupation and persecution – and again on Thursday night.

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Anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders, head of the largest party in the Dutch government, said he was “ashamed that this can happen in the Netherlands”.

In a vitriolic post on social media platform X, he blamed “criminal Muslims” and said they should be deported.

Police said there were incidents before the match, for which around 3,000 Maccabi supporters had traveled to Amsterdam.

Israel’s embassy in The Hague said the mob chanted anti-Israel slogans and shared videos of their violence on social media, “kicking, beating, even running over Israeli citizens.”

“On the eve of Kristallnacht – when Jews in Nazi Germany faced brutal attacks – it is appalling to once again witness anti-Semitic violence on the streets of Europe,” it said.

Police said 62 suspects were detained after the match as pro-Palestinian demonstrators tried to reach the Johan Cruyff Arena, although the city had banned a protest there.

They said fans left the stadium without incident after the Europa League match, which Ajax won 5-0, but clashes broke out in the city center overnight.

Herzog was among senior Israeli politicians who said the violence was reminiscent of the attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen last year, as well as attacks on European Jews in pogroms in previous centuries.

“We are horrified this morning to see the shocking images and videos that, since October 7, we hoped we would never see again: an anti-Semitic pogrom currently taking place against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and Israeli citizens in the heart of Amsterdam,” he he said. wrote on X.

Israeli airlines El Al and Arkia have announced five flights to Amsterdam.

The war in Gaza sparked protests in support of both sides in Europe and the United States, and both Jews and Arabs were attacked.

In March, Herzog’s opening of a new Holocaust museum in Amsterdam led to violent protests by pro-Palestinian activists.

More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed and another 102,000 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza, according to health officials in the enclave, after the Palestinian militant group killed 1,200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostage, according to Israel.

(Reporting by Enas Alashray in Cairo, Ahmed Elimam in Dubai; Additional reporting by Emily Rose and Jonathan Saul in Jerusalem and Mahezabin Syed in Bangalore; Writing by Michael Georgy and Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Lincoln Feast, Michael Perry and Kevin Liffey )