Pro-Palestinian activists want the Leonardo Hotel IJmuiden Seaport Beach to evict Israeli club Hapoel Be’er Sheva, De Telegraaf reports. A call circulated on social media on Thursday urging people to pressure the hotel over the club’s stay ahead of their match against AZ at the AFAS Stadion.
Ahead of the match at the AFAS Stadion in Alkmaar, the players and their entourage are staying in IJmuiden. On Instagram, several pro-Palestinian organisations, including Gooi 4 Gaza and Week 4 Palestine, have called for a boycott of the Israeli club.
The organisations are also addressing the hotel and Velsen mayor Frank Dales directly. They are sharing phone numbers and email addresses on Instagram so people can get in touch and express their displeasure. “Call them and demand a boycott,” the message reads.
Branding Hapoel Be’er Sheva a “Zionist team”, the organisations involved also call the players “child murderers”.
Police had a notably large presence around the Leonardo Hotel on Thursday morning. According to De Telegraaf, six police cars were in the car park near the Zuidpier in IJmuiden aan Zee at one point.
Inside the hotel, two police officers were in the lobby. A spokesperson for mayor Frank Dales told De Telegraaf the officers were “not there on his orders”.
The hotel has declined to discuss the Israeli delegation’s presence or security. A receptionist would not tell De Telegraaf anything about the guests staying there ahead of the match against AZ.
In Alkmaar, the city authorities have also taken measures because of Hapoel Be’er Sheva’s visit. They have imposed a ban on Israeli football fans being present, following the disturbances surrounding the match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in November 2024. Those events are again shaping security measures around a match involving an Israeli club in the Netherlands.