The Amsterdam city council has voted to bar sports teams from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank along with fans accused of supporting "racist and extremist views," Dutch media reported Wednesday.
The move comes amid growing outrage within the sporting world and beyond at Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
The decision also includes blocking Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv from entering the city, according to Dutch outlet De Telegraaf .
Sheher Khan, leader of the Dutch Denk party, said Maccabi supporters "support genocide, which is reason enough," referencing violent clashes in Amsterdam last November when the club’s fans were accused of chanting anti-Arab and racist slogans during their visit.
According to further reports, an "urgent" letter will be sent this week to both the Dutch Football Association and the national Olympic Committee, requesting formal approval of Amsterdam’s decision and preventing such teams from entering the city in future.
Khan said the proposal was written in broad terms rather than singling out Israeli clubs but stressed that Israeli teams should be excluded from European football in the same way Russian clubs are currently banned.
The decision follows calls by prominent pro-Palestine UK parliamentarians, including Jeremy Corbyn and Ayoub Khan, urging Aston Villa to boycott an upcoming fixture against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Unlike Russia, which has been sanctioned and isolated from global sporting bodies over its invasion of Ukraine, Israel has not faced suspension by organisations such as the International Olympic Committee or FIFA, despite the devastating toll of the nearly two-year conflict on Gaza’s sporting community.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose government has grown increasingly critical of Israel’s conduct since 7 October 2023, also called for a sports boycott.
He voiced support for pro-Palestine demonstrators who disrupted the Vuelta cycling race, declaring that Israel should be excluded from international sporting events until the “barbarity” in Gaza ends.
According to the Palestinian Football Association (PFA), as of August, 325 sports figures- including players, coaches, referees, administrators, and club officials- have been killed by Israel since the war on Gaza began, while more than 288 sports facilities have been destroyed in Gaza and the West Bank. Of these, 268 were in Gaza.