(8 Nov 2024)
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Ben Gurion Airport, Israel – 8 November 2024
++STARTS ON SOUNDBITE++
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Mansford, Chief Executive Officer for Maccabi Tel Aviv:
"I think, look, I think football fans across the across Europe and across the world have been, have been shocked by what we experienced last night. We feel a great sense of solidarity with football clubs and I think to all of them that have reached out to us as a club and to all of them that have supported us in the last few hours, thank you very much."
++BLACK FRAMES++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Mansford, Chief Executive Officer for Maccabi Tel Aviv:
"1 to 2 a.m. that this was this was very, very different. This was something that none of us expected and it was a worry, you know, it was a worry when you started to see some of the early footage of defenseless fans, you know, and our fans having to jump in rivers to try and escape. It was, it’s like nothing, I don’t think a lot of us have worked in professional football all of our lives and nobody’s seen anything like that. And I’m just so honestly, just so happy and so grateful that at this moment in time, we believe everyone’s safe, everyone’s out of hospital, and we’ll all be a lot happier when everyone’s back in Israel."
++BLACK FRAMES++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Mansford, Chief Executive Officer for Maccabi Tel Aviv:
"Look, we’re a Jewish football team wearing yellow and wearing the star of David. And clearly this was nothing to do with Ajax fans. We have a great collaboration between the two clubs, and there’s a synergy between the fans. So clearly this was something where our fans, because of their Jewishness, were clearly targeted."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
The Chief Executive Officer for soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv said on Friday that he believes his team’s fans were attacked "because of their Jewishness" as the team arrived back in Israel.
Young people on scooters attacked Israeli fans in hit-and-run assaults overnight after a soccer game in Amsterdam apparently fueled by calls to target Jewish people spread on social media, Dutch authorities said Friday.
"Clearly this was nothing to do with Ajax fans. We have a great collaboration between the two clubs, and there’s a synergy between the fans. So clearly this was something where our fans, because of their Jewishness, were clearly targeted," said Maccabi Tel Aviv CEO Ben Mansford.
Five people were treated in the hospital and released, while some 20 to 30 people suffered light injuries, police said. At least 62 suspects were arrested, with 10 still in custody, Amsterdam’s public prosecutor, René de Beukelaer, told reporters at a news conference Friday.
"This was something that none of us expected and it was a worry, you know, it was a worry when you started to see some of the early footage of defenseless fans, you know, and our fans having to jump in rivers to try and escape," added Mansford.
With condemnation of the violence as antisemitic pouring in from around Europe, the attacks shattered Amsterdam’s long-cherished view of itself as a beacon of tolerance and haven for persecuted religions, including Sephardic Jews from Portugal and Spain.
Afterwards, youths on scooters crisscrossed the city in search of Israeli fans, punching and kicking them and then fleeing quickly to evade police, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said.
Police had to escort some fans back to hotels, according to authorities.
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