A Palestinian refugee who was facing attempted manslaughter charges for attacking a Maccabi Tel Aviv football fan last November has been jailed for six months for public disorder and for attacking the Israeli national. He has also been ordered to pay his victim €2000 in compensation.

Mahmoud A, 22, was caught on film knocking his victim over and kicking him several times in the head. The public prosecution department decided to try him for attempted manslaughter, the most serious charge brought against anyone for the post-match trouble so far.

But the court disagreed with the department, saying there was no evidence the Israeli had received life-threatening injuries.

A, who comes from Gaza, has been found by experts to be suffering from trauma and diminished responsibility. He claimed to have acted in a panic because of the “threatening language and violent actions of the other group”.

Given he was held in custody for four months in pre trial detention, he will only serve a further two months, the court said in its ruling.

Complaints 

In March, the public prosecution department said it had drawn up a list of 122 suspects who were involved in the trouble surrounding the Europa League football match on November 7.

Most of the suspects have not been identified, and most are either pro-Palestine sympathisers or troublemakers, the department said. Around 10 are Maccabi fans from Israel.

“The investigation is ongoing, but we are now assuming we have all the people involved in the most serious violence in our radar,” spokeswoman Mara van den Berg told NOS at the time.

On the night of the Europa League tie, five supporters of the Israeli club were taken to hospital after being attacked following the match by what Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema then described as “hit-and-run” assaults by “youths on scooters”.

The violence caused outrage in Israel and elsewhere, with Israel at one point saying it would send over planes to rescue its citizens.

Since then, a more nuanced picture has emerged of what went on, although the police have still not said how many people were attacked or how many incidents there were.