Tzvi Kedar, a Maccabi Tel Aviv fan who suffered injuries after the brutal pogrom in Amsterdam last Thursday night, shared the terrifying experience he endured that night.
“When we exited the metro after the game, everything felt normal. But as we reached Dam Square, a woman approached us, warning, ‘Come to my bar, it's dangerous for you to walk around here.’ At first, we thought she was just trying to attract customers, maybe selling alcohol. But as soon as we went inside, we realized the gravity of her words. The bar was filled with frightened Israelis; she had genuinely saved us from what would have been a nightmare,” Kedar recounted in an interview with Kan Radio. “We were on our way to hell without even realizing it.”
Shortly after, police arrived to disperse the aggressive crowd, but the rioters showed no fear. When Kedar and his friend requested police escort to their hotel, an officer declined, stating, "We don’t provide escort services.” Forced to walk back alone, they took care to hide anything that might identify them as Israeli.
“Just 200 meters from the hotel, someone approached and asked where I was from. I said ‘Greece,’ but he spotted the yellow Maccabi scarf in my pocket and began confronting me,” Kedar recalled. As he yelled for his friend to run, more attackers joined in. “They came at us with metal rods, bottles, and knuckledusters; it was just the two of us against twenty, taking blows on the street like animals. My friend lost consciousness, and I was bleeding heavily.”
In desperation, Kedar tried calling for an ambulance, only to be told that emergency responders would not come to the location. They had to take a taxi to the hospital, which the hotel staff assured them was safe. Yet, upon arrival, Kedar found that hospital staff showed no empathy, displaying indifference and failing even to ask what had happened.
* Arutz 7 contributed to this article.