Jerusalem [Israel], November 8 (ANI/TPS): Members of the local Jewish community and Israelis living in Amsterdam helped to rescue Israeli football fans during the night of violence in the Dutch capital.
Notably, at least 10 Israeli soccer fans were injured when a mob of rioters shouting "Free Palestine" attacked them in Amsterdam on Wednesday night, prompting authorities to advise Israelis in the Dutch capital not to leave their hotels.
Around 3,000 Israeli soccer fans flew to Amsterdam to see the Maccabi Tel Aviv team play Ajax.
Video circulating on social media showed rioters carrying Palestinian flags and shouting "Free Palestine" attacked Israeli soccer fans after the game. Ten Israelis were injured and the Foreign Ministry said three remain unaccounted for.
"The night before the game there were skirmishes between Israeli fans and local Arabs. So when we started to hear news about the confrontation after the game, we first did not realize the scope of what was happening," Dovi Pinkovitch, head of the Chabad House in the center of Amsterdam, told TPS-IL.
As soon as it became clear that a pogrom was happening, the Chabad rabbi helped mobilize local Jews and Israelis living in Amsterdam to assist Israelis trapped in the streets, getting them safely to hotels.
"There were cases when local taxis took the Israelis towards the center of the clashes instead of bringing them to safety, so we understood we need to help. The volunteers, in their private cars, worked all night long to get hundreds of Israelis to the hotels," Pinkovitch, who also hardly slept last night, coordinating the efforts, said.
Among the volunteers, according to Pinkovitch, was a Jew from Germany who drove three hours to get to Amsterdam to take part in the rescue mission. Another volunteer was a Jew from Holland who drove more than two hours to get to Amsterdam.
Also among those who helped save lives was one of the fans, an Israeli Druze named Melchem Assad. As he was exiting the train on his way from the game to the hotel, he noticed a group of men speaking Arabic about beating those wearing a blue scarf and speaking Hebrew. So he returned to the train station and ordered the arriving groups of Israelis to take off the Maccabi Tel Aviv symbols, disperse and not to speak Hebrew.
Notably, there are about 20,000 Jews living in Amsterdam.
Israeli nationals were warned to stay in their hotels and be prepared to leave the country on short notice. Police arrested more than 60 suspects, Dutch media reported.
Israel's national airline said on Friday it received rabbinic permission to fly during the Sabbath to evacuate Israelis Amsterdam. The evacuation comes after rioters attacked Israelis in the Dutch capital for a soccer match.
"We failed the Jewish community during WWII, and last night we failed again," Dutch King Willem-Alexander told Israeli President Isaac Herzog in a phone call. The king also promised to facilitate the safe return home of all the Israelis. (ANI/TPS)