Mainstream Media Outlets Downplay a Pogrom in Amsterdam
A Thursday evening pogrom in Amsterdam, which saw roving gangs of anti-Semitic thugs beat Jews in the streets, sparked an emergency Israeli rescue operation. But Western media outlets, including Reuters and the New York Times, sought to downplay the shocking attacks, casting them as clashes between soccer fans.
At least 10 Israelis were hospitalized when anti-Semitic mobs hunted them down following a soccer match in the Dutch city that featured the two nations' largest clubs, Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Social media footage showed the mobs chasing Jews with knives and attempting to run them over with cars. The mass attack prompted Israel to fly rescue planes to Amsterdam to evacuate its citizens. Mainstream media outlets, however, described it as a mere clash between soccer fans.
Absolutely horrific scenes in #Amsterdam, with pro-Palestinian mobs literally hunting down and beating Jews on the streets, while Dutch authorities nowhere in sight. And this also on eve of Kristallnacht anniversary. No other way to describe this other than a modern-day pogrom! pic.twitter.com/hfYjyXdJsa
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) November 8, 2024
The Israeli authorities instructed all Israelis in Amsterdam to stay inside the hotel rooms.
Israeli rescue aircrafts are on their way to the Netherlands, including medical teams.
There is no other way to describe this but as a pogrom. pic.twitter.com/Tb9T8EOwEj— Avital Leibovich (@AvitalLeibovich) November 8, 2024
Reuters, for example, cited "evidence of provocative chanting from Israeli fans" and said that "officials" merely "described" the attacks as anti-Semitic. The Times described the pogrom as "violence tied to soccer game" that "Israel's government" said was "driven by antisemitism." The Associated Press covered the attacks under the headline "Maccabi Tel Aviv Fans Clash With Reported Pro-Palestinian Protesters at Ajax Europa League Match."
"While the exact sequence of events remained unclear, the violence appeared to be the product of two combustible forces in Europe: the unrest that often accompanies gatherings of hard-core soccer fans and tensions over the yearlong Israeli military offensive in Gaza," the Times wrote.
The headlines were a far cry from what is seen in footage filmed during the attack, which show mobs toting Palestinian flags and spitting on Jews, dumping their victims into riverways, and shouting, "Free, Free Palestine," as they stormed through the streets.
Muslim mobs in Amsterdam are hunting Jews tonight. I wish this was fiction. It's not. pic.twitter.com/mlSiwiSbAl
— ???????????????? ???????????????? ♛ ︎ (@NiohBerg) November 8, 2024
A 30-year-old Maccabi Tel Aviv fan describes this evening’s attack:
"They ran over me and pulled a knife on me. I am slightly injured, but I am not ready to receive treatment here, only in Israel. We were ambushed…The police here abandoned us. Every fourth person walking the…
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) November 8, 2024
"There is no mention of the unprecedented nature of the event—a pogrom in the 21st century," Rep. Ritchie Torres (D., N.Y.) wrote on X in reaction to the Times report. "No mention of its motive: antisemitism. No mention of its victims: Jews and Israelis. No mention of the response it necessitated: an emergency rescue operation by the Israeli government."
"The hollowness of the headline," Torres wrote, "tells its own story about a deeper desensitization of the modern world to Jew hatred even when the hate metastasizes into violence."
The Israeli government confirmed early Friday, following the pogrom, that it had accounted for all of its citizens. Israel's national airline, El Al, performed a series of rescue flights, forgoing normal restrictions that prevent the airline from operating during the Jewish sabbath.
Jewish organizations across the globe reacted with shock to the brutal attack, with the Combat Antisemitism Movement calling it "a new Kristallnacht," referring to the Nazi assault on Jewish businesses in the lead-up to the Holocaust.
"Exactly 86 years after Kristallnacht, when Nazis, along with ordinary Germans[,] hunted Jews through the streets of Europe, we see their ideological heirs rampaging through the streets of Amsterdam once again seeking to spill Jewish blood," the organization's CEO, Sacha Roytman Dratwa, said.
The Dutch government is also facing scrutiny for its failure to prevent the attack, which resulted in more than 60 arrests.
Israeli security sources reportedly warned local police "about [the] danger of violence in Amsterdam" and urged them to beef up patrols. "Police said they would boost forces but looks like they did nothing or very little, certainly not enough given the warnings," according to a popular Israeli social media account.
Other reports suggest that anti-Semitic activist groups helped to coordinate the attacks. Cybersecurity researchers identified local groups that used social media apps to plan the pogrom, including one with reported links to the UNRWA, the Palestinian aid service that is known to work alongside Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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