Footage shows Maccabi supporters attack Amsterdammers

Following Thursday night's violent riots in which Israeli football fans were attacked in Amsterdam, new footage shows Maccabi fans themselves turning violent and attacking Amsterdammers near Central Station that night, reports Het Parool.

At least a hundred Israeli football fans are said to have left the central station after the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv match and caused riots. They bawled in the streets and set off smoky fireworks.

Amsterdam-based photographer Annet de Graaf had seen the Israeli football supporters after the Maccabi Tel Aviv - Ajax match on Thursday evening and was able to capture on camera what happened when a group of 150 to 200 Maccabi supporters left the central station that night, AD reports.

Shortly after the Israeli football supporters walked past her, an explosive device went off, she tells AD. The Maccabi fans then ran to the Victoria Hotel, which is opposite Amsterdam Central Station, and attacked some Amsterdammers, she says.

She filmed the attacks and posted them on the social media platform X. A short time later, she sold her video to the international news agency Reuters. However, later she realized that her video was being used in the wrong context by German media such as Bild and the renowned broadcaster ARD. The German media reported that De Graaf's video shows Israeli football fans being beaten up by Amsterdammers and not the other way around.

The Amsterdam-based photographer contacted the German media outlets to have this rectified. The footage has since either been deleted by the various media outlets or the context and content of the video have been corrected.

According to the newspaper Het Parool, other footage shows a group of Maccabi supporters roaming the streets with belts in their hands and attacking a youngster, forcing him to lie on the ground.

The atmosphere became even more tense, according to Het Parool, when Israeli fans discovered a Palestine poster in a window of a house and then kicked at the front door.

“I have a pro-Palestine poster in my window, neighbors have Palestinian flags,” she says. “When I opened my curtain to look, the screams got louder. They started kicking my door. I was really scared, I was home alone and because I was looking out of the window, they knew I was home,” the 32-year-old resident who owns the pro-Palestine poster tells the newspaper. Images on social media confirm this.

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema confirmed that there had been riots by Maccabi fans before the football match. The Israeli football fans are said to have chanted anti-Palestinian slogans in the streets on Wednesday, torn down a Palestinian flag, and attacked a taxi.