Melhem Asad, a Druze-Israeli resident of Kisra-Sumei, is being hailed as a hero for his courageous actions in Amsterdam on Thursday, when he helped protect Jewish fans from a violent mob following a soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and AFC Ajax. The violence erupted after the game ended, and Asad, a supporter of the Maccabi Tel Aviv team, witnessed the security that had previously been in place vanish once the match was over.
Asad explained to Kan Reshet Bet that he acted immediately when he saw the chaos unfolding: “Before the game, we were at Dam Square, and there was good security. They really accompanied us the whole time before the game. After the game ended, we left the field on the way to the hotel, and there was no security. There was nothing.”
When the violence began, Asad overheard attackers speaking Arabic, threatening the lives of anyone displaying Israeli or Maccabi symbols. He said, “I saw people speaking Arabic. They said, ‘Anyone who has a Maccabi shirt and Israeli symbols – beat him to kill.’ I tried to confuse them with my language, to tell them that the Jews left. I spoke in Arabic so that they would recognize us as ‘with an Arabic accent,’ I told the fans to hide their Maccabi Tel Aviv shirts and not to speak Hebrew.”
Despite his repeated attempts to protect others, Asad was unable to help everyone, as he recounted: “I went to restaurants in the area and I did it again, three or four times. Around me there were people on the floor, who had been beaten, and I could not help them. I was afraid.”
Asad admitted to feeling fear for his own life, knowing that his actions could put him in danger. “I was afraid that they would recognize me and kill me. The Council called me and my parents were worried about me but I didn’t want to answer the phone, so that they would not hear me or see that I am an Arab-Israeli and begin to beat me.”
He expressed pride in his Druze heritage, stating, “This is our culture – the Druze, we support our country.” However, Asad also voiced frustration about the lack of recognition for the Druze community’s contributions to Israel, noting, “We do not receive rights, they don’t give us respect, and we give everything to our country.”
{Matzav.com}
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