Staff Writer Angelika Etherington Smith analyses the various media narratives from the coverage of antisemitic violence following Ajax vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Europa League fixture earlier this month.
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On 7 November, the Europa League hosted a game between Ajax, based in Amsterdam, and Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv. The match was held at Ajax’s home turf—the Johan Cruyff Arena—and ended in a decisive 5-0 victory for the home team.
The game’s score was not the most memorable part of the night, with violent clashes dominating the media coverage that followed. A day – and night – of emotions running high escalated from football hooliganism, vandalism and rudeness into a night of physical altercations, heightened tensions, targeted attacks and antisemitic violence – drawing international attention and raising questions about the role of media in framing and reporting on such events.
A Night of Violence
The violence started before the match, with reports of Maccabi fans tearing down Palestinian flags displayed by private citizens in Amsterdam. Videos posted online show tensions mounting inside the stadium when a group of Maccabi supporters refused to observe a minute of silence for the victims of devastating floods in Valencia. After the match, the situation quickly spiralled as Israeli fans were filmed shouting inflammatory slogans, such as “Let the IDF win, and f*** the Arabs!” Another video captured Maccabi fans allegedly attacking a taxi.
The response was immediate as videos from the evening depict fights breaking out. A plethora of posts show individuals beating up Maccabi fans. Tensions would escalate further, with some Israeli fans telling the BBC that they were forced to show their passports and being assaulted on refusal. Other fans said that they had their noses broken and were given black eyes, amongst other bruises.
Contradictory claims about further incidents added to the chaos. Some footage allegedly showed Israeli fans in a river, with conflicting narratives about whether they jumped in “to escape the beatings” or were pushed in and forced to chant “Free Palestine”.
Separately, there were troubling allegations of Jewish individuals being targeted by “criminals on scooters” in hit-and-run-style assaults. The Telegraph later reported that there was a group chat where some co-ordinated the attacks, with a user allegedly saying “Tomorrow after the game, at night, part 2 of the Jew Hunt”.
As the night progressed, what began as hooliganism seemed to feed into increasingly antisemitic violence. With this escalation, the media narratives around the events became a flashpoint of contention in their own right.
A “Pogrom”? Media and Social Media Responses
The violence occurred just before the eve of Kristallnacht (9 November), a historic pogrom against Jewish communities under the Nazi regime, during which 100 Jews were killed, thousands were sent to concentration camps and Jewish businesses and synagogues were torched and vandalised. The timing led some media outlets and political institutions including the European Parliament, Haaretz and the Israeli Embassy in the UK to label the events a “pogrom.” The term evoked strong reactions online, with users pushing back against this designation, believing that it mischaracterised the origins and nature of the attacks.
Some on social media claimed that the incidents were provoked by the actions of Maccabi fans, framing the violence as retaliatory. Others have framed the situation differently, describing the actions of the crowd as a “response [of] a group of Muslims [that] chased some of them and beat them up”. Another account similarly placed the blame on the actions of the Israeli fans, downplaying the role of antisemitism. Later the mayor of Amsterdam shared her regret for using the term pogrom, saying “I didn’t mean it that way”.
Mainstream Media Criticised for Bias
Traditional media outlets also faced backlash for their coverage. Sky News was heavily criticised for initially posting a video about the events, only to delete and repost it with altered language. The network explained that the original version “did not match up to their editorial standards”, but critics like journalist Owen Jones accused Sky of “posting disinformation” and used this as an example of “the Western media lying to you”.
Similarly, the BBC faced allegations of bias for focusing on Israeli fans as victims while paying less attention to their provocations. Author Marc Owen Jones claimed that the BBC’s coverage paid “disproportionate attention… to Maccabi fans and Israelis as victims, with far less attention paid to the actions of Maccabi fans”.
In contrast, The Daily Mail took a different angle, highlighting the hooliganism of Maccabi fans. Its coverage referred to the fans as “Israeli football hooligans”. A more recent article from the tabloid reads “Israeli football fans were attacked by marauding ‘anti-Jewish scooter gangs’ in Amsterdam, says mayor”. The divergence in coverage underscores the polarised narratives surrounding the events.
Additional Context
The context, that a lot of coverage has been missing, is that certain fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv club are known for hooligan behaviour. For example, a group of fans of the club have previously used racist slogans against members of their own team, making monkey noises against black players.
Individuals have also been reported to use glass bottles against those protesting the current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. While it has so far been portrayed either as an attack on Jewish and Israeli fans or a “fair and expected” retaliation for the actions of those very fans, the fact that this group has a history of hooligan behaviour both within Israel and outside should be considered.
The violence in Amsterdam did not stop after the events of Thursday. Tensions continued to escalate into the following week, with more fights breaking out after 50 people were arrested on Sunday 10 November after engaging in a pro-Palestinian demonstration under the protest ban. The clashes between police and pro-Palestine supporters ranged from an attack on a passer-by cyclist and escalated to setting a tram on fire. Casert and Jansen share that “The police were not sure who started the unrest“. The local police intervened and made 62 arrests as of 10 November.
Geert Wilders, the leader of the far-right ‘Party for Freedom’ (PVV), raised tensions in Parliament by claiming those behind the attacks had “hatred in their DNA”, calling for the deportation of dual-nationals found guilty of anti-semitic violence. Frans Timmermans of the Green-Labour opposition attacked Wilders for “stirring things up”, claiming “no human has hate in their DNA. Hate can be unlearned”. He called for unity in the face of violence and decried Wilders’ attempts to generalise entire groups of people.
What next?
As the Dutch government investigates the events in Amsterdam, French officials issued several security warnings ahead of the France-Israel Nations League game, including “a mobilisation of 4000 police officers and gendarmes”, the Internal Minister who observed the game. President Macron also attended, he called for “fraternity and solidarity”.
The Times reported that there were clashes between Israeli and French fans after the game.
