Something terrible happened in Amsterdam last Thursday, although if you just read the mainstream media, you’d be forgiven for not knowing exactly what that was. The liberal Guardian wrote that: “Amsterdam police have made more than 60 arrests after what authorities called “hateful antisemitic violence” against Israeli football fans.”
According to Amsterdam mayor, Femke Halsema: “Men on scooters crisscrossed the city looking for Israeli football fans. It was a hit and run. I can easily understand that this brings back memories of pogroms … Our city has been deeply damaged. Jewish culture has been deeply threatened. This is an outburst of antisemitism that I hope to never see again.”
Zionist writer Bari Weiss tweeted “There is a pogrom unfolding right now on the streets of Amsterdam.“ Ursula von der Leyen took a break from imposing austerity on Europe to say: “I am outraged by last night’s vile attacks targeting Israeli citizens in Amsterdam.” Germany’s hawkish Green foreign minister Annalena Baerbock tweeted: “The images out of Amsterdam are awful and deeply shameful for us in Europe, The outbreak of such violence against Jews breaks all boundaries. There is no justification for this.”
Needless to say, the German press joined in the pile on. A Welt report talked of “a pro-Palestinian mob”, which “hunted down Israeli fans”. Die Zeit quoted a Maccabi fan saying “Europe is no longer safe for us”, and even the liberal taz claimed that “Jew-haters see the sport as their battlefield”.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog tweeted: “We see with horror this morning, the shocking images and videos that since October 7th, we had hoped never to see again: an antisemitic pogrom currently taking place against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and Israeli citizens in the heart of Amsterdam, Netherlands.”
Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu compared the events to Kristallnacht, whose terrible anniversary we commemorated 2 days later. The pro-Israel “Combat Antisemitism Movement” called: “the vicious attacks against Israeli football fans in the streets of Amsterdam last night” a “new Kristallnacht.” CAM CEO Sacha Roytman said: “It’s time for Europe to get its act together and deal with the new Nazis as it did the old ones”.
What really happened
But who are the “new Nazis” in this story? Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters have a history of far right violence, of which more later. Israeli hooligans attacked a taxi driver before the game had even started. And the Jerusalem Post reported that a week earlier “a pro-Palestinian protester was reportedly attacked by Ajax fans.”
In a video made on Friday, journalist Owen Jones was more blunt: “Yesterday, racist Israeli football thugs rioted in Amsterdam while publicly inciting genocide – a criminal act under the 1948 Genocide Convention.”
The Middle East Eye said: “Israeli hooligans, supporters of the Maccabi Tel Aviv football club, provoked clashes with Dutch youth in Amsterdam. They chanted anti-Arab slogans, tore down Palestinian flags, and ignored a minute of silence for the Spanish flood victims.”
Can I repeat that last bit in case you missed it. The minute of silence for the people who died in the floods in Valencia was constantly interrupted by fireworks and racist chants from Maccabi “supporters”.
Even the right wing Daily Mail reported that: “Israeli football hooligans tore down Palestine flags as they marched through Amsterdam in a Wednesday night of chaos ahead of Maccabi Tel Aviv‘s visit to Ajax. Videos show dozens of hooded figures dressed fully in black cheering and chanting ‘f*** you Palestine’”
You can see a video of this incident here. Another video has been posted of “fans” chanting “Let the IDF win to fuck the Arabs”). At Tel Aviv airport, Maccabi fans were filmed chanting: “Why is school out in Gaza? There are no children left there.” Commenting from Israel, soldier Mazal Ledri posted: “Don’t worry. The women and babies in Gaza will pay the price.”
Edward Ahmed Mitchell from the Council on American-Islamic Relations commented: “As a Black man from Georgia, I know that it would be widely condemned if a group of white supremacists marched through downtown Atlanta chanting ‘death to n—ers,’ attacking Black-owned businesses, and beating up Black residents. I also know that no one would pretend that Black victims who defended themselves from white supremacist violence were racists who had suddenly decided to attack random white people.”
Tagesschau apologises – sort of
Tagesschau, Germany’s main television news service, was forced to publish an apology: “the tagesschau edition of 8 November was subsequently edited. In an earlier version of the contribution on the violence in Amsterdam, pictures by @iAnnetnl were shown in the wrong context. These pictures do not show attacks on Israeli football fans. The pictures were replaced.”
Tagesschau did not tell its viewers what this “wrong context” was. After several news channels posted the video, claiming it was footage of Maccabi fans being attacked, iAnnetnl tweeted: “I am the creator of this video. 1. you are spreading fake news, this is a group of Maccabi supporters starting a fight and beating one Dutch man. 2. delete this content, I didn’t gave you permission.”
The video was removed, by Tagesschau at least, but they did not explain to their viewers how they had misrepresented the events. The damage was therefore already done. The video, containing the implication that Palestine supporters are to blame, is also still available in many influential media platforms.
After Tagesschau published its apology, iAnnetnl appealed to the media: “I would like you to do the same as Tagesschau. An apology, a removal of my footage and the truth. A few minutes of your precious time. Write down: Maccabi supporters attacked Amsterdam citizens in front of Central Station after the game. Journalism is about finding truth. Not about making money on a twist of the script. It’s time to show some respect to reality. That’s your job.”
Police protect the Nazis
While the hooligans were in Amsterdam, the local police showed the neutrality which we have come to expect. Over 60 people were arrested, but as the New Arab reports: “No Israelis were arrested, but were instead given close police protection and escorted to their accommodations.”
Bizarrely, Trouw newspaper wrote that “as far as [Amsterdam police chief Peter] Holla knows, there are no hostage-takings or kidnappings and there are currently no public order problems in the city.” It is not clear why Holla mentioned hostages and kidnappings, which were also brought up by at least one German news channel, as there is no sign that any were reported. But his statement served to intensify the climate of fear.
An Al Jazeera report quoted Councilman Jazie Veldhuyzen as saying that Maccabi fans “began attacking houses of people in Amsterdam with Palestinian flags, so that’s actually where the violence started. As a reaction, Amsterdammers mobilised themselves and countered the attacks that started on Wednesday by the Maccabi hooligans.”
Vedhuyzen went on: “The mayor says the police did act, but I would say they acted not at the right moments. They acted only to protect the Maccabi hooligans when Amsterdammers stood up to defend their own people and defend their own houses. And this is when the police showed up to protect the Maccabi fans when they ran away after attacking people.”
People who oppose genocide were treated differently. The Guardian reports how Barbara Weenink, a Palestinian supporter in Amsterdam: “said she had found the behaviour of Israeli fans threatening. Weenink, who has demonstrated at pro-Palestine events, said she was warned not to go out with a keffiyeh on that evening.”
A statement by The Black Archives in Amsterdam “Don’t Let the Government Gaslight you” said: “We, as TBA, had to warn our team members to cover signs of solidarity with Palestinian people such as buttons and keffiyehs. On the evening of the soccer match we met several people – especially Muslim women – who stated that they were afraid to walk around with a keffiyeh.💔 This should be unacceptable.”
Entirely predictable
The Dutch news channel NRC claimed: “the outbreak of violence came unexpectedly, despite weeks of risk analyses by the Amsterdam security triangle and the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV). They had previously judged that there was no concrete threat, not even in connection with the war in the Middle East.”
But it was not as if no-one saw this coming. Two days before the game, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported that “in addition to Maccabi’s regular security personnel, Mossad agents will join the team in Amsterdam.” Even before the game started, riot police were used to disperse a peaceful pro-Palestine demonstration, which had been banned by mayor Femke Halsema, former leader of the GroenLinks (now GroenLinks-PvdA).
A TikTok video released by the Jewish Anti-Zionist Network in Amsterdam said: “we knew that they were going to be violent, and we also knew that among the supporters, a lot of them are IDF soldiers who have on their Facebook footage of them being enlisted in the same army that’s committing genocide.”
Before the game was played, the Dutch BDS movement called on the game to be cancelled, saying: “less than 60 kilometers from the Maccabi stadium, a genocide is taking place, the most heinous war crimes, a record number of children killed and maimed, a deliberately caused famine, total lawlessness.”
Maccabi Tel Aviv – racist to the core
Thursday’s violence was not new for Maccabi supporters, who have a history of racism. +972 magazine reports: “the racist chanting in the stands; the fact that Maccabi’s “ultras” make sure to display excessive numbers of Israeli flags when playing [Palestinian club Bnei] Sakhnin; the hounding of their Arab players in recent years; and the management’s acceptance of the fans’ racist behavior: all this has generated a culture of racism at Maccabi Tel Aviv.”
According to socialism.ne: “the club organizes fundraisers and tributes to fallen IDF soldiers, and there are numerous photos of soldiers posing with Maccabi scarves among the ruins of Gaza. The Maccabi thugs assaulted a man in Athens in March this year because he was carrying a Palestinian flag.”
Racism has been endemic at Maccabi for many years. Reporting a game in 2008, Jewish Chronicle reporter Larry Derfner acidly commented: “I suppose Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans should be congratulated for restraint. They didn’t start making monkey sounds — chanting “hoo-hoo-hoo” as loud as they could — at black players on the opposing team until one of them scored a goal.”
In 2014, the International Business Times recounted the experience of Maharan Radi, a Palestinian who used to play for Maccabi: “right-wing extremists invaded the pitch, insulting him and chanting “F*** the Arabs!” Some fans even spat at him … It is not the first time that Radi suffered a racist attack. Last year, bigoted football fans shouted anti-Muslim slurs during a game with Hapoel Tel Aviv, despite Radi scoring the second goal that secured Maccabi’s victory.”
In 2020, Deutsche Welle reported that members of Maccabi Tel Aviv ultra group Maccabi Fanatics “attacked anti-Netanyahu protesters with batons and broken bottles. Five people were injured as a result.”
On a previous visit to the Netherlands, Maccabi fans sang a song called The Rape Song, which contains the following lyrics: “You’re the Arabs’ wh*res. We are ashamed of you. At the end of the day, Gate 5. We will f*ck you. We will f*ck you. And then we will drink your blood. In the town’s square we will hang every Communist who comes here. We will take your girls who love to party. When we’ll rape them we will shout. Today is death, Hapoel”
It’s not just about football
Those who say that this is just about football do not understand how a murderous ideology can take over a whole culture. The Yarmouk Stadium in occupied Gaza is currently being used as a detention and torture center. In the aftermath of the Amsterdam riots, Israel soldiers blew up homes in Gaza, publishing the statement: “We dedicate this explosion to all the fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv. We’ll get to all of you, you sons of bitches.”
As Abed Abou Shhadeh argues: “The hooligans’ mindset aligns with the genocidal culture that has permeated Israeli society since 7 October 2023, allowing Israelis to imagine themselves as being above the law and morality – not only in Israel, but the world over. These fans are an expression of a culture that is not just prevalent among a handful of racists; rather, it has become routine in stadiums, with chants of “death to Arabs” or “may your village burn” often heard in Israel long before 7 October 2023.
Israeli political commentator Ori Goldberg told Al Jazeera: “The fact that Israeli fans riot in the middle of Amsterdam, sing racist songs and climb the walls of homes to tear down Palestinian flags … is part of the Israeli condition at the moment: A complete detachment between actions and consequences.”
And yet the mainstream media and politicians continue to provide cover for such blatant racism, as noted by Marc Owen Jones: “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”
What now?
The Palestine Football Association notes that: “FIFA cannot currently ensure the safety and security of fans around matches including Israeli teams. A recent incident in Greece – where an Arab man was beaten unconscious by a group of Israeli supporters – illustrates the urgent need for intervention. The absence of accountability for such entrenched violence and normalized racism has only led to further unfortunate incidents, such as those in Amsterdam.”
This lack of safety has led the Jüdische Stimme (Jewish Voice for Peace) in Germany to issue a statement which concludes: “we can only hope that every invitation to an Israeli team is cancelled, that the football authorities sanction Israeli teams and that we all remember the Palestinian football players and trainers who Israel has killed and continues to kill, to bring the genocide to an end.”
A local woman interviewed by Middle East Eye said: “It is not about the Jewish people. It is about the occupation, the annexation, the breach of international law and the breach of human rights. That is why we are against Maccabi being invited to play here and I still cannot believe that they have been allowed to play.”
In 2022, within 4 days of the invasion of Ukraine, FIFA and UEFA banned all Russian teams from competing in their competitions. Thursday’s match should have never taken place in the first place. The bare minimum we should expect from the football authorities is the removal of all Israeli teams from international competitions – not just because of Thursday’s violence, but because of their complicity in genocide.
This is unlikely to happen without pressure from below. As DiEM25 commented: “What is curious is that actual right-wing extremist behaviour from football fans in Europe, like that of Italian club Lazio, who are renowned for blatant anti-Semitic actions, have never garnered comparable scrutiny from politicians or media outlets.”
The protection of racist Israeli football fans is tied up with the support by Western governments and media for genocide. This means that any call for retribution against the violent racist hooligans is only part of the solution. We must destroy the ideology from which they emerged. We must continue to build an international movement which challenges Western support for murderous apartheid and enables Palestine finally to be free.
