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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">No, there were no ‘antisemitic pogroms’ in Amsterdam. Here’s what really happened.</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Sana Saeed</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">November 9, 2024<br></div>
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<img src="cid:ii_m3bth5dj0" alt="Screenshot-2024-11-09-at-4.53.23 PM.png" width="373" height="441"><br><br><p><em>“</em><a href="https://x.com/ireallyhateyou/status/1854986326355198248"><em>Olé, olé!</em></a></p>
<p><em>Olé, olé, olé!</em></p>
<p><em>Let the IDF win and fuck the Arabs!</em></p>
<p><em>Olé, olé!</em></p>
<p><em>Olé, olé, olé!</em></p>
<p><em>Why is school out in Gaza? There are no children left there!”</em></p>
<p>On the night of November 7th, there was an anti-Jewish pogrom in
Amsterdam as young Dutch Moroccans on scooters descended onto the
streets to assault Israeli Jewish football fans.</p>
<p>At least, that’s the story being told in Western newsrooms and by American and European <a href="https://x.com/receipts_lol/status/1855132262855057533">leaders</a> as the Israeli extermination of Gaza – especially <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/8/what-is-the-israeli-army-doing-in-gazas-north">the north</a> – continues <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mideast-gaza-north-hunger-437b401b0ade2d934f00f88d027d467c">unencumbered</a>.</p>
<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “horrific antisemitic incident.”</p>
<p>President Joe Biden <a href="https://x.com/potus/status/1854953886328799588?s=46">released a statement on X</a>
saying “the Antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam are
despicable and echo dark moments in history when Jews were persecuted.”
He ended by reiterating “We must relentlessly fight Antisemitism,
wherever it emerges.” </p>
<p>Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof promised that “the perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted.”</p>
<p>EU commissioner Ursula Von Der Leyen <a href="https://x.com/vonderleyen/status/1854823001302208741">gave</a> the reminder that “antisemitism has absolutely no place in Europe.”</p>
<p>Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau <a href="https://x.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1854892679831720330">stated</a> “the news out of Amsterdam last night is horrifying. This is a dark moment for our world — and one we have seen before.”</p>
<p>The Anti-Defamation League <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/press-release/adl-statement-regarding-modern-day-pogrom-amsterdam">called</a> it a “modern day pogrom”, its CEO Jonathan Greenblatt drawing comparisons to<a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/holocaust-kristallnacht/"> Kristallnacht,</a>
saying that “Jews on the streets of Amsterdam were hunted, chased,
attacked and forced to hide from an antisemitic mob whose goal was to
harm as many Jews as possible.”</p>
<p>Headlines across U.S. news coverage, especially, signaled similar alarm: “<a href="https://x.com/SanaSaeed/status/1854790886414012486">Violent Attacks in Amsterdam Tied to Antisemitism</a>”, “‘<a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/scooter-youths-hunt-jews-in-amsterdam-jews-europe-antisemitism-ad2603e3">Scooter Youths,’ Not Soccer Fans, Hunt Jews in Amsterdam</a>”, “<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/israeli-soccer-fans-involved-violent-incident-amsterdam-officials/story?id=115632359">Israeli soccer fans suffer ‘anti-Semitic attacks’ in violent Amsterdam incident: Officials</a>”, “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/israels-pm-aware-very-violent-incident-against-israelis-amsterdam-his-office-2024-11-08/">Amsterdam bans protests after ‘antisemitic squads’ attack Israeli soccer fans</a>”, “<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/israeli-soccer-fans-targeted-antisemitic-attacks-1982584">Israeli Soccer Fans Targeted in ‘Antisemitic’ Attacks In Amsterdam</a>”.</p>
<p>But that’s not what happened. </p>
<p>On November 5th, hundreds of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans – reportedly <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/sports/article-827683">accompanied by Mossad agents</a>
– had flown into the city for a game against Ajax FC. It was reported,
in the preceding days, that pro-Palestinian groups were planning a large
protest outside the stadium against the presence of the Israeli
football team. In the two days before the game, there were many reported
incidents of violence and intimidation from the Israeli fans – <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/8/israeli-football-fans-clash-with-protesters-in-amsterdam">including</a> anti-Arab chants, attacking taxi drivers, ripping down Palestinian flags and attacking homes with any Palestinian imagery.</p>
<p>Emerging <a href="https://x.com/SanaSaeed/status/1854797428139966552">video evidence</a> and testimonies from Amsterdam residents (<a href="https://x.com/HarrietmBergman/status/1854858919585157276">here</a>, <a href="https://x.com/ingridkerr/status/1854785822991462709">here</a> and <a href="https://x.com/SanaSaeed/status/1854972558237462945">here</a> for instance) indicate that the initial violence <a href="https://x.com/YounessOuaali/status/1855021528615702997">came</a> from Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, who also <a href="https://x.com/leylahamed/status/1854651497604129256">disrupted</a> a moment of silence for the Valencia flood victims. </p>
<p>But despite that footage and Amsterdammer testimonies, coverage –
across international media, especially in the United States – has failed
to contextualize the counter-attacks against the anti-Arab Israeli
mob. </p>
<p>Where there have been mentions of the actions of the Maccabi fans,
the critical context of anti-Arab violence and chants is simply an
additional detail versus the foundation of the counter-violence. The
context of the violence and racism against Arabs is also downplayed,
with less severe language being used to describe it.</p>
<p>Note this excerpt from a Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/israels-pm-aware-very-violent-incident-against-israelis-amsterdam-his-office-2024-11-08/">report</a> on the Amsterdam incident:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Videos on social media showed riot police in action, with some attackers shouting </em><strong><em>anti-Israeli slurs</em></strong><em>. Footage also showed Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters chanting </em><strong><em>anti-Arab slogans </em></strong><em>before Thursday evening’s match.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Wishing death to Arabs at the hands of the IDF and mocking dead
Palestinian children, we are told, is a slogan. Forcing Israelis to say
“Free Palestine!” is a slur. Through the use of these two words, the
weight of violence and of blame is immediately shifted to those
victimized. </p>
<p>Then there’s<a href="https://www.channel4.com/news/amsterdam-violence-against-israeli-football-fans-condemned-as-antisemitic"> this Channel 4 news report</a>,
which shows a bit of a masterful narrative manipulation. It begins with
images of people draped in Palestinian flags, marching in the streets
of Amsterdam, with the voiceover talking about the ‘shocking’ violence,
and how “men on scooters hunted down Israelis to beat them”. We
immediately see footage of random Israelis being beaten in the streets
and then a jump to the Dutch PM condemning these actions. When presented
this way, it is shocking – your initial introduction to this story is
that Israeli Jewish football fans were ‘hunted’ and assaulted in the
streets by pro-Palestinian hooligans. </p>
<p>A little over a minute into the three-minute report, we move onto
what is the critical context: 36 hours of violence and racist slurs and
chants by the Maccabi fans. The report spends about 40 seconds going
over it, only to return to framing the incident as antisemitic. It
concludes with a brief acknowledgement that Maccabi fans have a history
of anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian racism but its final note is about the
historical memory of Jews with regards to being ‘hunted and chased’ in
the streets. </p>
<p>Nevermind the present experience of Arabs, of Muslims being
exterminated in their homes, hospitals, schools and tents by a Jewish
military.</p>
<p>It’s also worth mentioning here that during the course of writing
this piece, Sky News posted and deleted a video report on the racist
Israeli mob’s instigation and violence — only to <a href="https://x.com/marcowenjones/status/1855322800220725404?s=46">repost the report</a>,
with its content and copy edited to center the “antisemitism” framing.
In other words, a real-time manufacturing of a story to fit a specific
narrative, despite all the evidence available. Few things have captured
the intentional complicity of the news media, in the genocide of
Palestinians, as transparently and poignantly as this.</p>
<blockquote><p>The coverage of events in Amsterdam reveals a
troubling, but transparent and tired pattern: it serves as a rhetorical
tool to justify violence against Arabs and Muslims, whether in Gaza or
within the streets of Europe.</p></blockquote>
<p>The coverage of events in Amsterdam reveals a troubling, but
transparent and tired pattern: it serves as a rhetorical tool to justify
violence against Arabs and Muslims, whether in Gaza or within the
streets of Europe. Each narrative, whether centered around October 7th
or November 7th, invariably positions Jewish suffering and historical
trauma at its core, thus reinforcing the notion of a Jewish right to
violence. Any contextualization that portrays Israelis or Jewish
Zionist as aggressors threatens to disrupt this carefully curated
monopoly on suffering.</p>
<p>In the case of Amsterdam, the media framing and sensational headlines
reinforce an image of the Israeli mob as victims, besieged by an
enraged Arab mob that “hunts Jews” in the streets. The timing—occurring
just before the anniversary of Kristallnacht—adds a haunting resonance
that has allowed the narrative of Jewish persecution to be put at the
center of coverage and condemnation. </p>
<p>This framing, both directly and indirectly, echoes Israeli and
Zionist propaganda reliant on manufactured antisemitism and
long-standing racist tropes about Arabs and Muslim; it perpetuates a
narrative of eternal victimhood that is wielded to justify the ongoing
extermination of 2.2 million Palestinians. And thus our media gives
permission for violence – American, European and Israeli – toward Arabs
and Muslims. It gives permission for the U.S.-backed Israeli eradication
of Palestinians because, we are told again and again, that Jews are not
safe anywhere.</p>
<blockquote><p>This framing, both directly and indirectly,
echoes Israeli and Zionist propaganda reliant on manufactured
antisemitism and long-standing racist tropes about Arabs and Muslim; it
perpetuates a narrative of eternal victimhood that is wielded to justify
the ongoing extermination of 2.2 million Palestinians.</p></blockquote>
<p>This has lent itself to fabricated stories – about <a href="https://www.declassifieduk.org/beheaded-babies-how-uk-media-reported-israels-fake-news-as-fact/">beheaded babies</a>, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/21/october-7-forensic-analysis-shows-hamas-abuses-many-false-israeli-claims">babies in ovens</a>, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/02/28/new-york-times-anat-schwartz-october-7/">mass rapes</a> of Israeli women, command centers <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/israeli-hamas-command-center-al-shifa-hospital-falls-report-1234934784/">under</a> hospitals, <a href="https://www.channel4.com/news/israels-evidence-of-unrwa-hamas-allegations-examined">UNRWA</a> involvement in October 7th, journalists as “<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/fears-six-palestinian-journalists-israel-names-targets-al-jazeera">terrorists</a>”, unfettered antisemitism <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfaxZtvzgOE">on college campuses</a>
and pogroms against Jews in Amsterdam – defining American, Canadian and
European coverage of the genocide of Palestinians. The claims and
experiences of Israelis, of pro-Israel Jews are <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbrZt-ip6YM&list=PLZd3QRtSy5LNlwMhnvlXVYSkBv1dg2cG0&index=4">presented as sacrosanct</a>,
to question them is antisemitic; it is to deny and support the sort of
dehumanization and violence that led to the Jewish Holocaust. </p>
<p>The claims and experiences of Palestinians, of Arabs and Muslims,
might be tragic but we must always consider Jewish suffering and trauma
first and foremost – that is what must always be protected, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ_TgPlEfQs&list=PLZd3QRtSy5LNlwMhnvlXVYSkBv1dg2cG0&index=6">always at the helm of our outrage</a>.</p>
<p>The coverage of the anti-racist counter-attacks in Amsterdam
exemplified that: on the same day Western leaders flocked to condemn a
non-existent pogrom against Jews, the UN Office on Human Rights released
a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/09/middleeast/un-warnings-gaza-humanitarian-conditions-intl/index.html">report</a>
indicating that 70% of those killed in Gaza are women and children –
mainly children, between the ages of 5 and 9. And the lack of
condemnation, of outrage – even acknowledgement – of that from Western
leaders and newsrooms, who are culpable in that 70%, is why there <em>is</em> condemnation of a pogrom that never happened.</p>
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