USEPAIsraeli fans have described being attacked by a group of young men in Amsterdam, some of whom suffered injuries including broken noses.
Adi Reuben, 24, said he was kicked to the floor and had his nose broken when he and his friends encountered more than 10 men on their way back to their hotel.
The men asked Mr. Reuben where he and his friends were from. “They chanted ‘Jews, Jews, IDF, IDF,'” he said, referring to the Israeli military.
Police said the violence involved men on motorcycles carrying out “hit-and-run” attacks, which are difficult to prevent.
“They started harassing me and I realized I had to run away, but it was dark and I didn’t know where to go. I fell to the ground and 10 people were kicking me. They were shouting ‘Palestine,'” said Mr. Reuben told the BBC.
“They kicked me on the floor for about a minute and then walked away, not afraid of anything.
“I realized I was full of blood My face and nose were broken and it was very painful. ”
Mr Reuben said he couldn’t see clearly for about 30 minutes but decided not to go to hospital in Amsterdam because he had heard the taxi driver was involved in the violence.
Instead, he said he would fly to Israel on Friday afternoon and receive treatment there.
He added that it appeared to be “a specific, organized attack.”
Gael Benjamin ChuwaSome Israeli fans said they were asked to show their passports when they were attacked.
Gal Binyanmin Tshuva, 29, told the BBC he was attacked outside the casino on Wednesday after watching another football match.
“We met about 20 people running towards us. They asked me where I was from and I said I was from Greece. They said they didn’t believe me and asked to see my passport.
Mr Shuwa said the men beat him, pushed him to the ground and kicked him in the face when he told them he had no money.
“I don’t remember anything after that, I woke up in the ambulance with blood on my face and realized they had broken two of my teeth.”
British Jews Aaron and Jacob told the BBC they went to the game but left early.
Later, they said they saw some men shouting anti-Semitic threats and stamping on an Israeli man. They intervened, helped the man to his feet and then left.
Soon after, a group of people asked if the men were Jewish, and Aaron said they were British.
“But they said ‘you helped the Jews,’ and then he hit me in the face and broke my glasses,” Aaron said.
“I’m bleeding and my eye is black. I’m fine, just a little shaken.”
A photo of Aaron seen by the BBC showed blood running down his nose, his eyes swollen and other wounds on his face.
Esther Voet is the editor-in-chief of a Dutch Jewish weekly and lives in the city center. She said she proposed her home to Israeli fans after seeing footage of the violence.
“I tell them this is the home of the Jewish people and you are safe here,” she told Israel’s public broadcaster Kahn. “People were really scared. I never thought I would experience this in Amsterdam.”
Dutch police said Israeli fans suffered “severe abuse” in “hit-and-run” attacks, many of which were carried out by young men on motorbikes.
Amsterdam police chief Peter Hora said such attacks had proven difficult to prevent even with a heavy police presence.
He said police eventually decided to gather Maccabi supporters together and protect them before busing them out of the area.
Officials said there had been some tension between Maccabi fans and Amsterdam residents in the days leading up to Friday night’s attack.
Police chief Hora said Maccabi fans attacked a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag on Wednesday.
There were further clashes in Dam Square on Thursday night, but police were largely able to separate the groups.
Some Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have previously been involved in racist incidents in Israel, including swearing at the team’s Palestinian and Arab players and reportedly putting pressure on the team to step down.
Fans of the team have also previously attacked protesters against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Asked about the video of Maccabi Amsterdam fans chanting offensive slogans, Mayor Halsema said: “What happened last night had nothing to do with the protest. There is no excuse for what happened.”
Additional reporting by Scheana Oppenheimer in Jerusalem
