Israel lashes out at ‘very low’ number of arrests after ‘Jew hunt’ attack on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam – as Paris deploys 4,000 officers to France-Israel conflict

Israel has lashed out at the “very low” number of arrests made following the attack on Maccab Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam.

Newly appointed Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters in Jerusalem on Monday that Israel considered the number of arrests following last week’s clashes in Amsterdam to be “very low.”

“I was told by the mayor of Amsterdam that they have formed a special investigation team, but I can say that the number of arrests so far is very low,” Saar said.

Israel had offered to help investigate the violence that broke out in Amsterdam on Thursday after a football match between Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv and host nation Ajax.

Dutch police said they have arrested 62 people in connection with the unrest, which left between 20 and 30 supporters of the Israeli team injured. Police said they had been chased by groups of people who had answered online calls to attack Jews.

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said gangs on scooters targeted fans of the Israeli club, hitting and kicking them in hit-and-run attacks.

The Dutch city’s police chief said “incidents on both sides” had taken place on Wednesday, 24 hours before the match.

“A Palestinian flag has been set on fire on Dam Square,” he added, referring to Amsterdam’s central square.

In scenes that showed the tensions, an unverified video on social media, which was reportedly filmed on Thursday, appeared to show some Maccabi fans chanting in Hebrew: “Let the IDF (army) win!” We’ll fuck the Arabs!’

The scenes in Amsterdam were enough to sow fear in other European countries.

Paris police said on Sunday that 4,000 officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed to a football match between France and Israel to ensure security in and around the stadium and on public transport.

France and Israel will play a UEFA Nations League match on Thursday that French President Emmanuel Macron will attend, the Elysee presidential palace said.

Israel’s National Security Council warned citizens abroad in a statement on Sunday to avoid sporting and cultural events, especially the match in Paris, and to be cautious about violent attacks “on the pretext of demonstrations.”

“There is a context and tensions that make this match a high-risk event for us,” Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez said on French news channel BFM TV, adding that authorities “will not tolerate” any violence.

Nuñez said 2,500 police officers would be deployed around the Stade de France, north of the French capital, in addition to 1,500 others in Paris and on public transport.

“There will be an anti-terrorist security perimeter around the stadium,” Nuñez said. Security checks will be “strengthened”, he added, including systematic patrols and bag searches.

A witness to the violence in Amsterdam last week recalled how the thugs ‘weren’t looking for Israelis – they were looking for Jews’ in shocking ‘anti-Semitic’ scenes that followed a Europa FC match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and AFC Ajax .

A 33-year-old from Hendon, North London, known only as Aaron, told of the horror of his ordeal: ‘We left the game early to meet a friend.

“As we walked to the bar, chaos broke out: mopeds appeared from alleys and a crowd surrounded an Israeli man.”

The father-of-two said he then witnessed the helpless fan on the ground, “with his head wedged between a curb and a metal fence, where he was viciously kicked.” Aaron, who was with his friend Jacob, who is also from London, decided to intervene and pushed the attackers away.

“We thought it was over,” he said.

But moments later the gang returned and confronted them, asking: ‘Are you Yehudi? Are you Jewish?’

Jacob, a father-of-three from Golders Green, north London, said the men asked for their passports to check whether they were Jewish or not.

Despite denying they were Israelis, the men continued to harass the terrified couple and grabbed Jacob’s jacket.

‘I told him to leave him alone, and the next thing I knew he punched me in the face. It was so unexpected.

‘My glasses were broken, my nose was split. Blood everywhere.

‘After he hit me, about twenty more came out of their hiding places to effectively finish me off.

‘But I stuck to my guns. I said what you’re doing is the reason you’re not getting support.”

When the leader of the gang said, “He’s British, leave him alone,” another replied, “Yes, but he helped a Jew.”

“That,” Aaron says, “is why they were angry. Because I helped a Jew.’

Aaron claims he only saw police officers “after about 45 minutes” and believes they were “scared” by the violent scenes that were unfolding.

He continued, “I saw this poor father running to the hotel with his child.

‘They probably got him. They weren’t looking for Israelis. They were looking for Jews. They knew what they were doing.

“It wasn’t a random ‘Oh, let’s get an Israeli.’ It was organized. It was: ‘We want Jews.’ We want Jewish blood.”

Aaron later received stitches for his facial injuries at a local hospital.

In the moments after his attack, a member of the gang came up to apologize to him, saying, “Sorry, we thought you were a Zionist.”

Jacob added that after the apology, a member of the gang said, “The streets are full of Zionists and we have to get the Zionists.”

He said: ‘I’m not one to be scared, but it was a dangerous situation. They were gangs of people looking for blood.”

He adds, “They wanted to kill that man I was helping. They just stomped on his head.”