On the recent violence in Amsterdam sparked by Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligans

On the recent violence in Amsterdam sparked by Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligans

10–12 minutes

"Why is it allowed that these people were able to come to the Netherlands in the first place?  And how were they able to spew their hatred undisturbed?"

Well, it has been quite the time for intelligence analysts as we watched a disinformation campaign play out that would put Russian disinformation operations to shame, following the violence initiated by Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligans in Amsterdam.

I began this article with a quote from a speech from Stephan van Baarle of the Denk Party, speaking about the Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligan violence during an emergency debate in the Netherlands regarding last week’s clashes.

To understand how media sources tried to twist the narrative of what happened in Amsterdam, watch Owen Jones' interview with Annet De Graaf, a local photographer whose footage was taken out of context and used by several media outlets in order to portray the exact opposite of what she witnessed: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2HFM_V1rnPA

The New York Times eventually issued a correction and apology on their article, but did not update their editorial and also removed the video, which showed fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv chasing after and attacking a man. Here is their correction:

"An earlier version of this article included a video distributed by Reuters with a script about Israeli fans being attacked. Reuters has since issued a correction saying it is unclear who is depicted in the footage. The video’s author told The New York Times it shows a group of Maccabi fans chasing a man on the street — a description The Times independently confirmed with other verified footage from the scene. The video has been removed."

Sky News removed their initial coverage which was actually quite fair and balanced, and replaced it with a disinformation narrative, as described by Owen Jones here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pTFovHpft5M

Several other international media sources have since apologized but plenty of damage has already been done and Geert Wilders, predictably, continues to try to make hay from the events, to pursue his usual racist agenda, happily platformed by those who implausibly pretend not to understand his intentions.

Shame upon the Dutch goverment, local and international media for attempting to gaslight us and spin such a flagrantly dishonest narrative of what happened. Peaceful protests that followed the events were subsequently banned and violently dispersed. Protests that took place in such numbers partly because people were disgusted at the lies being spread all around the world about the Dutch people.

Here are some recordings of police violence and accounts from victims:

As the story broke internationally, the Dutch government and security services surely already knew of the well-documented violent history of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. The behaviour of these fans in the days leading up to the match was predictably aggressive and incendiary. The racist chants which they were recorded singing in the streets of Amsterdam and in the Tel Aviv airport when they got back were not new and have been used by them since at least 2022: http://sports.walla.co.il/item/3498656 . They have since added a new chant that celebrates the deaths of the children of Gaza.

So this wasn't some unique event for them. The authorities since revealed they had even discussed banning the match, but apparently, too late in the day to change the predictable course of events on the ground, which followed.

Despite this, public figures, government and media still chimed in whole-heartedly immediately after the events with a chorus of anti-semitism as the motivating factor, with the Dutch King making despicable comparisons to WW2 and Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema making ridiculous claims about the events being reminiscent of antisemitic pogroms.

While there is no doubt that anti-semitic language was used by some of those involved in the violence, and this is rightly to be condemned, it is ludicrous to try to contextualize the whole incident as stemming from fundamental anti-semitic motivations.

This is just transparent misdirection to avoid mentioning the elephant in room, the psychopathic violence which the Israeli state has been inflicting on the people of Gaza for over a year.

Listen as Richard Falk explains the weaponisation of anti-semitism: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fez19arNrvg

To better illustrate the rank hypocrisy of this situation, recall that, as explained by Tony Karon in this interview on Al Jazeera, 4 days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, UEFA banned all Russian clubs from European competition. Over a year into Israel's genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza which has killed at least 44,000 people and indirectly as many as 186,000, there is no sign yet of their teams getting banned from EUFA competition.

Al-Jazeera on Israel's future in Football : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=14O8JNJ79p8

And yes we don't need to say "plausible" genocide anymore since the release of a report from the UN Special Committee which has found Israel's warfare methods in Gaza to be:

"consistent with genocide, including use of starvation as a weapon of war"

While Western goverments and media continue to mince their words, Israeli paper Haaretz is able to clearly state that

"Netanyahu's Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza is on display for all to see".

Do you think we are blind?

Middle East Eye, Middle East Memo, Al Jazeera, Owen Jones and Left Laser, among others, have been some of the online media channels holding western governments, public figures and mainstream media to account for their blatant misrepresentations of what happened.

Just as Indymedia led the charge for independent media coverage in the 2000's, so these channels have been doing a public service to illuminate for us the gaslighting, lies and disinformation that has been fed to us in the last week.

The United States has voted in Donald Trump for a second term, something which has been linked to a powerful right-wing media ecosystem which wraps its viewers and listeners in a hermetic bubble of lies and misrepresentations of reality. https://newrepublic.com/post/188197/trump-media-information-landscape-fox

But when an incident like this happens, suddenly we see the very same twisting of the facts from local and international government figures and news sources like the New York Times, the BBC, the Guardian and local English language news outlets here in the Netherlands like NLTimes and DutchNews.

Only concerted pushback has forced some media outlets to issue apologies, but far too late in the day. Is it any wonder that Joe Rogan has a podcast with 28 times the viewership of CNN ( https://m.youtube.com/shorts/kgTA1n3MbQg ), when governments and mainstream media show themselves capable of such outright lying, dishonest framings and misrepresentation?

My question to those who spun this narrative is:

Did you think we would not see what you are trying to do?

Did you think you would get away with blatantly misrepresenting footage and lying about the context?

This is not Gaza, you can't assassinate journalists here in case they might report the truth.

Israel is an international pariah state in flagrant violation of international and human rights law, yet they have the gall to send their hooligans to the Netherlands to riot and sing hateful racist songs promoting genocide and revelling in the slaughter of children.

There needs to be an apology from the government and media sources who misrepresented this story. Peaceful protests must be allowed to continue against the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing.

The Mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, needs to apologize and retract her outrageous references to the holocaust and to a "pogrom" in her response to this violence.

The Dutch police force must apologize for their vindictive violence which can be seen clearly in the footage shared above.

Here is a final summary of the events provided by Double Down News:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DvTyg1kJGzM

"The truth is incontrivertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is" - Winston Churchill