Four men were sentenced on Wednesday for their participation in the November Amsterdam pogrom, according to a Wednesday announcement from the Netherlands Judiciary and Public Prosecution Service, the men being part of a cohort of 122 suspects, including a few Israelis, being investigated.
The four men, who appeared before court on March 5 and 6 along with a fifth suspect whose case had been postponed, were found guilty for their role in the violence that unfolded on November 7 around the Ajax–Maccabi soccer match riots, in which anti-Israel mobs attacked people across the city and Israeli fans were accussed of tearing down Palestinian flags.
The court issued a three-month prison sentence, a month more than sought by prosecutors, against a 27-year-old Amsterdam man for providing information used to commit violence in the Buurthuis2 WhatsApp group, which had emerged as one of the key means of coordinating violence against Israelis and Jews.
In the group of 966 participants, he shared tips on how to disguise oneself, and coordinated times and locations to assemble against "those Jews." The prosecution concluded that the suspect had wanted to "contribute to the hunt for Maccabi supporters," and the court determined that he had "deliberately contributed to the increase of possible violence against Maccabi supporters and Jews.
The criminal also made statements insulting Jews because of their race or religion and condoning and trivializing the Holocaust.
A 32-year-old man who was one of the administrators of the WhatsApp group was sentenced to 6 weeks in prison for his role in sharing messages contributing to the likelihood of violence. A 22-year-old was sentenced to a month in prison for sharing locations of Maccabi supporters and police vehicles and urging others to attend them. He was acquitted of a public violence charge because it couldn't be established he filmed four videos that were the basis of the allegations.
Another man was sentenced to 30 days in prison, 19 of them conditional, but the remaining days were made redundant due to time already served. The suspect had chased a Maccabi supporter with a belt before another attacker kicked the victim.
On Thursday, a 24-year-old Zaandam man was convicted for violence against police, in which Ajax supporters threw stones and a traffic cone at officers, resulting in an injury. He was sentenced to a week in prison, but had also spent a week already in detention. He was also punished with a seven-week conditional prison sentence, 120 hours of community service, and was banned from Ajax matches for a year.
The punishments follow the December sentencing of the first five convicted for the November riots. A 32-year-old man was given 6 months in prison for a flying kick that sent a victim hurtling into a moving tram. He also kicked other people who were lying on the ground during an attack. The court noted that while he was a first-time offender, who is usually sentenced to community service, the severity of the crime demanded a more appropriate punishment.
A 26-year-old Utrecht man was given ten weeks in prison for aiding and abetting violence in the WhatsApp group. He had also made insulting remarks against Jews. A 26-year-old Amsterdam man also aided the violence by providing the location of targets and was sentenced to a month in prison — which the court noted was longer than the prosecution requested.
A 24-year-old was sentenced to a month despite being a first-time offender after he joined a gang of men attacking Maccabi supporters. When two victims were on the ground, he kicked them multiple times and stole one of their scarves.
The final person sentenced in December was a 19-year-old who attacked police officers and vehicles and participated in chats calling for coordinated violence against Jews and Israelis. Due to his age and the "atmosphere of football hooligan violence prior to the match," the court gave him 100 hours of community service.
The prosecution updated on Wednesday that in addition to the ten convictions and case postponement, two suspects had thus far been summoned to a juvenile court, and two more to a single chamber court for crimes with a maximum penalty of one year. The public prosecutor settled with seven suspects, and two more cases were dismissed. The public prosecution service is in the process of making a decision on 13 more files.
In addition to the 36 suspects that the prosecution has pursued, the prosecution service is still investigating eighty-six people, with some being identified through online public appeals by the Netherlands Police.
The police said that some of those presented in a March 5 appeal were suspected of destroying a Palestinian flag. Of the thirty people suspected of violence against people or property being sought through public aid, several were likely Maccabi supporters, according to the prosecution service.
Recently, one Israeli suspect was supposedly identified by the Israel Police, and the prosecution said that their Dutch counterparts were working to verify. The Police also received 50 reports, of which eight included group insults and incitement to violence by Maccabi supporters. Another 250 reports and witness statements were received from Israel, but most were in Hebrew and are still being translated.
Police and prosecutors are concentrating on identifying the suspects of the most serious acts of violence, according to the service, including hitting and kicking others. They reportedly analyzed tens of thousands of hours of footage to identify suspects.
Antisemitic pogrom
The mass November violence shocked Jews and Israelis around the world, with videos on social media showing how Maccabi fans were beaten, chased with knives, and narrowly avoided being hit by vehicles. Dutch police were sent to respond to the riots but were also attacked by anti-Israel mobs. The Israeli government-chartered flights to the Netherlands to collect Israelis stranded and in danger due to the violence, which many characterized as an antisemitic pogrom.
Prosecutors have insisted that the violence was influenced by anger against the situation in Gaza and not antisemitism, and said in December it was careful about ascribing motive because of the interchangeable use of words such as "Jews, Zionists, Israeli, and IDF."
Anti-Israel activists have accused Israelis of instigating the violence by removing Palestinian flags and insulting Palestinians.
The court noted Wednesday that it had taken into account the context in which the attacks occurred, but no context offered justified "calling for and using physical violence against the Israeli supporters who were guests in Amsterdam for a football match."
Mathilda Heller, Shir Perets, Yuval Barnea, and Danielle Greyman-Kennard contributed to this report.
