Four given jail terms for Amsterdam attacks on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans
Four rioters have been sentenced to short jail terms for violence against fans traveling to Amsterdam to watch a match between Ajax and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The Amsterdam District Court sentenced 32-year-old Sefa Ö to six months in prison, the longest sentence, while another man was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison and two others were each sentenced to one month in prison. The fifth defendant was given a community service order under Dutch youth law.
The judge said custodial sentences were appropriate given the seriousness of the conduct and the context in which it occurred.
In early November, riots broke out in several areas of the Dutch capital, triggering international condemnation.
The five defendants sentenced on Tuesday were the first to stand trial over the hit-and-run attacks, which occurred in the early hours of November 8 and spanned two days.
The court said there was extensive video evidence of extreme violence faced by Maccabi fans, pointing to footage of supporters pulling down Palestinian flags and chanting slogans against Arabs. Taxis were also vandalized by fans.
The court president added that there were already unrest in the Netherlands as a result of the war in Gaza.
While the court considered the “context” of the incident, it said there was “no justification for the call for and use of physical violence against Israeli supporters”.
Serfa O He was found to have karate-style kicked one victim, causing him to fall onto a moving tram, and was involved in several other attacks.
Video footage seen during the trial appeared to show him kicking and hitting victims in Damplein Square, Damrak and Zusteg, and prosecutors said he played a leading role in non-football-related violence.
Rashid OThe 26-year-old, who was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison, was found to have participated in a WhatsApp chat group called Buurthuis2 in which he branded his intended victims as “cowardly” Jews who he would never get the chance to attack.
There were more than 900 people in the group, and the court said the chat was used to pass messages to “perpetrate violence against people of Jewish descent and/or supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv.”
Umutkan AThe 24-year-old was also found to have kicked one victim multiple times before kicking another fan to the ground while taking part in the attack with other men. CCTV footage showed him attacking several Maccabi fans and grabbing one by the throat and snatching his football scarf.
He had written in a text message group about “hunting down Jews,” but said at trial that he had no hatred for Jews.
Karanville TrumpetThe 26-year-old had already been convicted of assault in 2022, which the court noted did not stop him from taking part in last month’s attack.
The youngest of the five, Lucas DThe 19-year-old was caught using violence against a police officer and participated in a separate Snapchat group calling for violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.
All five have two weeks to appeal.
The court said he was in possession of illegal high-explosive Cobra fireworks when he was arrested. Prosecutors asked for Lucas D to be sentenced to prison.
Chief prosecutor Rene de Bockral earlier rejected claims the attacks amounted to terrorism as he said the group was not aiming to instill fear in the target population.
However, he did say there was some anti-Semitic rhetoric in one messaging group.
“I understand very well that the Jewish community in Amsterdam is scared because of this violence, but that is different from saying this was a target of a suspect,” he told Amsterdam’s AT5 television channel earlier this month.
