On 6, 7 and 8 November 2024, before and after a UEFA Europa League football match in Amsterdam between Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. and Dutch club AFC Ajax, tensions over the Gaza war escalated to violence. Targets of the violence included an Arab taxi driver, Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, and pro-Palestinian protesters. Seven people, including five Israelis, were sent to hospital and 20–30 people sustained light injuries. Several local individuals who attacked Maccabi fans were given jail terms by Amsterdam district court.
The evening before the match, Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were filmed pulling Palestinian flags from houses, making racist anti-Arab chants such as "death to Arabs", assaulting people, and vandalising local property. Plans to attack Israeli fans were subsequently shared through messaging apps. After the match, Maccabi fans were ambushed and assaulted across the city centre, while a group of Maccabi fans around Damrak was recorded assaulting people and vandalising local property.
The attacks on Israeli fans were condemned as antisemitic by Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema, Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof, King Willem-Alexander, and several international leaders. The failure to condemn the Israeli fans' attacks, and their characterisation of the events as "antisemitic", was also described as being one-sided.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry, Palestinian Football Association, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres were among those condemning the attacks and other actions of the Israeli fans as anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism. Four days after the riots, Halsema published a report compiled with the chief prosecutor and chief of police which said the events were caused by a "toxic combination of antisemitism, hooliganism, and anger about the conflicts in... the Middle East", and condemned racist violence against "all minority groups".
Background
After the onset of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023, a number of protests related to the war have taken place in the Netherlands.
The Maccabi Tel Aviv fan base is known to include far-right ultra groups that have been involved in racist incidents in Israel in the past, including directing racist abuse at Arab and black players on their own team. In March 2024, prior to a game against Olympiacos F.C. in Athens, a man carrying a Palestinian flag was taken to hospital after an altercation with a group of Maccabi fans. Other European matches played by Maccabi Tel Aviv that season passed without violence, although a Men's National League game between Belgium and Israel, on 6 September 2024, had to be played behind closed doors in Hungary, after the Royal Belgian Football Association had declined to host the match due to security concerns.
Prelude The match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv was a Europa League group stage match held at the Johan Cruyff Arena. Ahead of the game, Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema prohibited pro-Palestinian protests near the stadium due to concerns over possible violence. Halsema requested an additional threat assessment from the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV), noting increased tensions due to the Gaza war and the upcoming commemoration of the Kristallnacht, but the NCTV found no specific threats. Mossad agents joined the football team on their trip to "provide maximum protection", and Amsterdam increased its police presence in the city centre the night before the match.
After the event, Israel claimed that it had warned the Dutch government of a potential threat to Israelis and Jews in the Netherlands, but the Netherlands denied this. The match was not initially flagged as high-risk, as Ajax is traditionally associated with Judaism, but the municipality nevertheless decided to treat it as such. Local authorities cited concerns over the potential for conflict in various areas, as "distressing" incidents targeting minorities—including Jews, Muslims and Palestinians specifically—had occurred before. A pro-Palestinian protester, who had called for a boycott of Maccabi Tel Aviv to match the boycott of Russian teams, had been attacked by Ajax supporters near Central Station on 2 November 2024.
Riots 6 November Tensions rose on the evening of 6 November, when 200 Maccabi supporters walked through the city centre and taxi drivers shouted "free Palestine" when passing them. There were also reports of Maccabi supporters shouting "fuck you Palestine".
A group of Maccabi Fanatics chased two men, beating one with a belt as he tried to escape in a taxi. After the police arrived, the group ran away, joining other Maccabi ultras, nearly all of whom wore black clothing instead of team colours, walking towards Rokin. This group of around 50 Maccabi supporters gathered in front of Villa Mokum, a squat where several Palestinian flags were displayed.
Residents of the squat barricaded themselves inside while one of the ultras ripped the flags off. Maccabi fans reportedly kicked the doors and tried to enter the house, threatening to kill the residents. Video footage showed a police car passing without stopping, leading to criticism on social media. A group of supporters vandalised a nearby taxi, including hitting the window with an object and trying to force the windows and doors open, while the driver was inside.
Around 1.20am, the police saw online calls urging taxi drivers to mobilize. A large proportion of the taxi drivers had an Arab background and were pro-Palestinian. They gathered in various locations to find Maccabi fans.
Around 200 Israelis gathered in Holland Casino; two fans arrived bloodied. After their location was shared by a security guard, dozens of taxi drivers and scooters arrived at the casino. 15–20 Maccabi supporters were chased inside. They were escorted out by police around closing time (3am).
A Maccabi supporter was also chased into the canal around 3.15am and forced to yell "Free Palestine", while people on the quay shouted ("cancer Jew"). Around the same time, two Israeli men were beaten and their phones and passports stolen by a group of men arriving by taxi near Stopera. Around 4.00am, it was relatively calm in the city.
After the incidents on Wednesday night and throughout Thursday, calls for attacks on Israeli supporters were shared via Telegram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp. At least one chat referred to it as a "Jew hunt".
7 November: before the match City officials met at 11am to discuss whether to cancel the game due to the "aggression shown by Maccabi supporters and the reaction of the taxi drivers". They decided to let the game proceed, opening the stadium earlier than planned to allow Israeli fans to clear the streets sooner, and asking the football clubs and taxi companies to avoid politics and maintain the peace.
Maccabi Fanatics convened in the city centre at 1pm, in particular around Dam Square, displaying banners for Israeli soldiers and setting off flares. They chanted, among other things, "Fuck the Arabs". Counterdemonstrators chanted anti-Israeli slogans. Police instructed individuals displaying pro-Palestinian symbols or chanting slogans like "Free Palestine" to leave the square.
At around 5pm, the Maccabi ultras moved towards the stadium for the 9pm kickoff, leading to fights in side streets and in Station Square. On their way to the match, Israeli fans chanted "Olé olé olé, let the IDF win and fuck the Arabs", and: "Why is there no school in Gaza? There are no children left there." At the stadium, a group of Maccabi fans interrupted a minute of silence for the victims of the 2024 Spanish floods with anti-Palestinian chanting and whistles.
That afternoon, pro-Palestinian demonstrators held a demonstration at , about a kilometer from the football stadium. Some protesters attempted to move closer to the stadium, despite the protest ban, while a group of Ajax hooligans attempted to approach the protesters. The police prevented the groups from reaching each other. The commemoration of the Kristallnacht in the city centre proceeded without disruptions.
7-8 November: after the match After the game, which Ajax won 5-0, Maccabi supporters moved to the city centre. They were allowed to leave at the same time as the Ajax supporters so that they would blend in. A large group of supporters were escorted to the metro by police without major incident, although the Israeli fans were filmed singing anti-Arab songs.
The police were monitoring online groups, who discussed how and where to attack the Maccabi fans. According to the Dutch Inspection for Justice and Security, the first disturbances take place around the Dam at 11.30pm. Walking from Station Square to Damrak and Spui, Maccabi rioters armed themselves with wooden boards and pipes from a construction site, before being filmed chasing a group of men and beating one. According to the Dutch Inspection for Justice and Security, around midnight small groups of pro-Palestinian rioters started actively seeking out individuals they perceive as Jewish, regardless of their actual background.
The first 'flash'-attacks took place around 11.55pm at Damrak and reports in other places came in afterwards. The police had a hard time addressing these scattered and agile flash attacks. Footage showed fans being beaten and chased with knives. Eyewitnesses reported attempted stabbings, individuals being thrown into a canal, and attackers beating and spitting on Israelis. One man was kicked repeatedly while apparently unconscious in the street. Footage showed a group of men being chased down a street in the city centre and being struck by someone out of shot; one man on the ground repeatedly shouted: "I'm not Jewish!"
Meanwhile, chanting Maccabi supporters kicked the front door of a woman with a pro-Palestinian poster in her window.
The police changed strategy around 00.25am, shifting from arresting the rioters to protecting the Maccabi fans. These were directed to protected zones, from where they were moved by bus to their hotels, which was completed by around 3.00am. From 01.24am, the number of reports of trouble declined. While the situation remained restless, it was becoming manageable for the police.
Most of the people involved in the attacks on Maccabi fans were taxi drivers and youths on scooters, who believed there were ex-IDF soldiers and Mossad agents amongst them.
Further unrest In the nights following the attacks, people thought to be Jewish continued to be targeted, including being forced out of taxis and ordered to show their passports to check if they were Israeli. On 11 November, four days after the attacks, Amsterdam police made multiple arrests after clashes in Amsterdam's '40–'45 Square between dozens of rioters and officers. One person was filmed shouting "cancer Jews", and an empty tram was damaged by fireworks. Amsterdam police said it was not clear there was a direct connection to the previous week's unrest, and some arrests were made separately from the tram incident.
Aftermath Seven people were hospitalised and eventually released, while approximately 20 to 30 others sustained minor injuries.
Amsterdam officials issued an emergency ordinance banning any demonstrations for three days after the overnight attacks, and giving Dutch police the authority to stop and search individuals. Police were also stationed in larger numbers at Jewish institutions across the city. A bomb threat on a synagogue turned out to be false, and calls to attack mosques circulated online. The ordinance was extended for four more days on 10 November. The organisations Erev Rav, an anti-Zionist group, and the Stop Racism and Fascism Platform cancelled a local Kristallnacht commemoration due to the actions of the Maccabi supporters, saying they had no confidence in the authorities to guarantee the safety of the event.