Dutch court issues prison sentences over violence against Israeli football fans

Amsterdam: A Dutch court on Tuesday found five people guilty of public violence or incitement of public violence, the first rulings related to last month’s assaults against Israeli football ans surrounding a ​match in Amsterdam between an Israeli team and a Dutch team.

The violence occurred on the night of November 7, when fans of the Israeli team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, faced a series of antisemitic assaults in the Dutch capital, often in what authorities described as hit-and-run attacks on bike and foot. In the prelude to the match, which was against the Amsterdam team, Ajax, supporters of the Israeli team had stolen and burned a Palestinian flag, while others chanted racist epithets and attacked a cab.

Four of the defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from one month to six months, though people found guilty of similar offenses are usually sentenced to community service. “In this context, only a prison sentence is appropriate,” the judge said.

Some of the defendants were part of a 900-person WhatsApp group, named “Community Center II,” in which they discussed attacks as well as shared locations and the flight information of some of the Israeli fans, the court said. In the chat group, some of the defendants explicitly said they were looking to beat up Jews.

“I may never get this chance again,” one of them wrote.

The court is expected to rule in two other cases, including attempted manslaughter charges, at a later date.

The court said it had also taken into account the Israeli supporters’ actions, along with the sense of dissatisfaction among large parts of Dutch society with the war in the Gaza Strip. But the judge said that the wider context was “no justification for the violence and insults” that were levied against the Israelis.

At a hearing in the cases this month, Ejder Köse, a lawyer for one of the defendants, accused the public prosecutor of operating with a double standard. “These cases were investigated so quickly,” he said in court on December 12. “Why not one from the Maccabi side? You’re only focusing on the pro-Palestine side.”

Police in Amsterdam arrested at least 62 people in connection with the violence, including 10 who live in Israel. Those people either received fines or the cases were dismissed, according to Franklin Wattimena, the spokesperson for the Dutch public prosecutor.

Most of those arrests had been for minor offenses, authorities said, but charges also included public violence and attempted manslaughter, as well as violence against riot police.

Forty-five people were issued fines for disturbing the peace, unruly behavior or being unable to show identification when requested by police officers.

More arrests could follow, according to Wattimena, who said the public prosecutor’s office was still investigating about 100 people in connection with the violence.

In a report released last month, Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, described the violence as “a toxic cocktail of antisemitism, hooligan behavior, and anger over the war in Palestine and Israel, and other countries in the Middle East.”

The events also drew an international outcry, including from President Joe Biden and the leaders of Israel and the Netherlands.