On the night of Thursday November 7 to Friday November 8, violence broke out in the Dutch capital, after a Europa League match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel-Aviv. By relaying this information, BFMTV initially misinterpreted images from social networks, and apologized to its audience for this.
On the sidelines of a Europa League match in Amsterdam, Thursday November 7, between Ajax and Maccabi Tel-Aviv, violence broke out. Several Israeli supporters were chased and attacked in the streets of the city.
According to the Dutch police, the tension started the day before. “It was a night with incidents on both sides. Maccabi supporters removed a flag from a facade of the Rokin and destroyed a taxi. A Palestinian flag was set on fire on the roadblock,” assured the head of the Rokin. police in Amsterdam.
In our morning edition of November 8, on BFMTV, as well as on our site and our social accounts, we reported on this news, misinterpreting the images of this violence, where we could see supporters of the Israeli club chasing individuals dressed in black in Amsterdam.
We then explained that “footage shows hordes of people running through the streets of the capital. They appear to be chasing Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters.”
We worked with images from social networks, and redistributed by a press agency. When it published its note associated with the images, it indicated that it involved “clashes in front of Amsterdam Central Station, which was described as an attack against Israeli football supporters”. Our subject was broadcast three times on our antenna, between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. on November 8. Then rebroadcast on our digital media.
These comments and the broadcast of these images did not accurately report the situation on the streets of Amsterdam and we regret that this may have created confusion.
In a topic broadcast from midday, we however explained, with supporting images, that Israeli supporters had also demonstrated serious provocations towards pro-Palestinian residents.
On our site, we also explained on November 8, in an article published at 11:53 a.m., what we knew about these incidents. “In Amsterdam, Thursday, November 7, Maccabi Tel-Aviv supporters were attacked after attending a Europa League match against Ajax. Before the match, incidents had already broken out following provocative acts by fans Israelis”, we wrote at that time.
