Hooligans burning a Palestinian flag, chanting racist slogans calling to “let the IDF win to finish off the Arabs”. And who, at the opening of the Europa League match between Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam, Thursday evening, do not respect the minute of silence in tribute to the victims of the floods in Spain, the latter having made the mistake of recognize the Palestinian state.
Confirmed on Friday by the Amsterdam police chief, these facts should have been enough to contextualize the clashes that occurred in the Dutch capital. Extremely brutal, these events call for condemnation, as every time violence is involved in sport.
From there to qualifying them as “pogroms” and “an anti-Semitic explosion”, as did the mayor of Amsterdam and the Western chancelleries as well as – equal to himself – the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? Relayed by agencies and major media in unison, the accusation ignores the provocations of Maccabi hooligans, renowned for their ultraviolence. The images demonstrate military organization and determination to fight, targeting any expression of solidarity with Palestine.
Hitting a man to the ground, as was the case against Israeli supporters, is in no way justifiable. But fueling the conflation between Zionist extremism and Jewishness is as dangerous as it is irresponsible. Jewish voices, more and more numerous, are alarmed. They condemn crimes committed in their name in the Middle East and assert that Israel, radicalized by Netanyahu and his supremacist ministers, “puts Jews in danger” – like Israeli Holocaust researcher Raz Segal, in a column published by Time Magazine.
Last Thursday’s violence in Amsterdam comes against the backdrop of the annihilation of Gaza. The UN confirms what we already knew: nearly 70% of deaths are women and children. In thirteen months of Israeli bombing, more than 43,000 people have lost their lives, undoubtedly many more if we count the missing and the deaths that will occur from illness, malnutrition and trauma. Not to mention Lebanon, attacked in turn, and the West Bank where colonization continues with its procession of expropriations and violence. Appalling results, and an acknowledgment of failure which should encourage governments and editorial staff to urgently review their biases. Starting by not adding fuel to the fire by relaying hateful propaganda in the service of war without nuance.
