Consider this paradox: The New York Times ran the headline, “Israeli soccer fans injured in attacks linked to antisemitism in Amsterdam,” but the body article contained only verified evidence of anti-Arab racism.
Its lede emphasized antisemitic motivation, while the body of the article cited footage by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans chanting anti-Arab and racist slogans – footage that the New York Times had actually verified. The only basis at the time for claiming antisemitism came from a single tweet by the Dutch prime minister, while the linked Amsterdam police’s own statement made no such attribution (subsequent police statements did condemn “antisemitic behavior”).
The New York Times was not alone in minimizing Israeli fan violence and anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism. Other mainstream outlets like NBC, CBS, CNN, and the BBC, all ran almost identical headlines that read like Israeli press releases, emphasizing that Israelis had been “attacked.”
Despite no Israelis being killed, a media system loathe to use the term genocide to describe the deaths of over 43,000 Palestinians seemed happy to use terminology redolent of the Holocaust. Suddenly, incidents of soccer hooliganism and anti-Israeli violence seemingly provoked by anti-Arab racism were being reduced to antisemitic pogroms.
Buried or omitted in most accounts was verified evidence of anti-Arab racism that had occurred prior to these events, including footage of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans tearing down Palestinian flags, attacking taxi drivers, and chanting explicitly racist slogans like “Death to the Arabs” and “Let the IDF fuck the Arabs.”
As soon as I read the initial headlines all over every media outlet I went to see if anything precipitated the attacks, because I had a feeling this wasn’t unprovoked.
I don’t support violence against anyone, but I sure wouldn’t paint this as an anti-Semitic attack. This was a group of hooligans who instigated the whole situation and got what they asked for.
The Israeli hooligans were escorted out of the city center by bus after the police clamped down on their riot. Afterwards the pro-Palestine rioters attacked everyone in the city center who had Maccabi merch or looked Israeli. The people they attacked weren’t part of the Israeli instigators. It’s not like every Maccabi fan that visited the game was a hooligan.
So something did precipitate this attack, and the media never reported on that. It only reported on what happened after.
Yes, some people completely uninvolved with the initial provocation got attacked, but the point is the attack wasn’t just some anti-Semitic pogrom. Also, the bigger point is the media reported on one thing with a very specific slant and didn’t report the other thing at all.