Druze Maccabi Tel Aviv fan says he yelled in Arabic to distract Amsterdam assailants

Melhem Asad, a resident of the northern Druze town of Kisra-Sumei who is fan of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team, recalls to Channel 12 news how he yelled in Arabic at a group of assailants in Amsterdam to prevent them from attacking Jewish fans of the team.

According to Asad, Maccabi fans were escorted by police to the match against Ajax due to anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrations but after the game “the local police just screwed up.”

“They didn’t guard us, we felt really exposed,” he says.

Asad says that he had nearly made it safely back to his hotel after the brutal attacks started when he encountered a group of Arabic-speaking suspects planning to assault Maccabi fans.

“I told them that no Jews are still here, that they escaped. I did everything to confuse them… I directed them the other way and then ran toward groups of Israelis and warned them that there are immigrants who are looking to hurt them,” he tells the network, explaining he told his fellow Maccabi supporters to take off their blue and yellow jerseys so they couldn’t be identified.

Asad says the violence reminded him of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught last year.

“I feel that God sent me at the right time and to the place to save whoever was possible,” he adds.

ערבות הדדית בהתגלמותה -מלחם אסעד, תושב הכפר שלי כסרא-סמיע, אוהד מכבי תל אביב היה באמסטרדם
כשהתחיל הפוגרום ברחובות העיר, ובזכות התושייה שלו ניצל את העובדה שהוא דובר ערבית על מנת להטעות את הפורעים ולהציל אוהדים רבים.
גאים בך מלחם! שנזכה לחוות ערבות הדדית במשך השנה ולא רק ברגעי אסון pic.twitter.com/0iR5sOBgmQ

— Lorena Khateeb | لورينا خطيب (@kh_lorena) November 9, 2024