“First the fans were banned. Then the team was hunted. This is what happens when threats are rewarded instead of confronted,” he posted.

Two years ago, fans of the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv were violently assaulted in the streets of Amsterdam following the club’s Europa League match with the Dutch team Ajax. The premeditated and coordinated attack was condemned by Israeli and Dutch officials.

“Two years after Israelis were hunted through the streets of Amsterdam, the Dutch answer is to ban the victims, not the attackers,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry (MFA) said on Monday in a statement shared on X. “Alkmaar’s exclusion of Hapoel Be’er Sheva fans rewards those who threaten and incite violence and runs counter to the very spirit of sport.”

“This exclusion of Israelis comes amid a wave of antisemitic attacks in the Netherlands, fueled by anti-Israel incitement from Dutch politicians and public figures,” the MFA added. “Banning Israeli fans from attending the match, like boycotting Eurovision, is yet another stain on the Netherlands, as the country increasingly becomes one of the world’s leading hotspots for antisemitism.”

The statement came about two weeks after an Israeli man living in the Netherlands was rejected from a Dutch-language course after refusing to endorse his prospective teacher’s characterization of Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza as “genocide” during an admissions interview.

The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) — a Dutch Jewish human rights organization that monitors antisemitism — shared a recording of the conversation, in which the teacher said he only wanted to work with students who shared his views on what he called the “Palestinian genocide.”

Vapni also strongly condemned this incident, calling it “deeply concerning.”

“A nation that once prided itself on openness and acceptance is now increasingly drawing inspiration from some of its darkest historical periods,” the Israeli diplomat wrote in a post on X. “Strong, decisive leadership at the highest levels is urgently needed to put an end to this harassment.”

Like most countries across Europe and the broader Western world, the Netherlands has seen a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents over the last three years, amid the war in Gaza following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.

In April, Dutch authorities released a report showing antisemitism in the Netherlands remained at alarmingly high levels last year. According to the data, police recorded 867 antisemitic incidents in 2025, a figure that remains at deeply troubling levels and virtually unchanged from the 880 antisemitic incidents recorded the previous year.

Even though Jews make up less than 0.3 percent of the Dutch population, anti-Jewish hate crimes account for 26 percent of all discrimination cases.

Following the pro-Hamas demonstration in Alkmaar on Thursday, Avi Nir-Feldklein, Israel’s ambassador to the European Union, asked why Dutch officials allowed open support for the proscribed terrorist organization.

The ambassador said earlier in the week that he planned to drive to Alkmaar to support Hapoel Beersheba at Thursday’s game, before discovering all Israeli fans were banned by the municipality due to “very high risk.”

“When Hezbollah and Hamas cheerleaders are allowed to march and celebrate the Oct. 7 massacre, no wonder it’s ‘high risk,’” he said. “Instead of stopping the extremists, they banned the fans. Stand against hate, not against football fans.”