On November 6 and 7, fans of the Israeli football team Maccabi Tel Aviv stormed Amsterdam before a match between their team and the Dutch football team Ajax. They attacked local residents, attacked private property, destroyed signs of Palestinian unity, and chanted racist, genocidal slogans that glorified the killing of children in Gaza and the death of all Arabs.
While Israeli supporters were given a police escort, pro-Palestinian protests were canceled or moved. On the night of the 7th of November, following the match, local residents responded to these events by attacking Maccabi supporters. Five people were hospitalized for a while but they were later released and 62 people were arrested, 10 of whom were Israelis.
A letter, issued by the Amsterdam City Council and recounting the events, noted that “from 01:30 onwards. [on Thursday night]reports of street violence dropped rapidly”. The story could end there. It didn’t happen.
Overnight, the Israeli propaganda machine went into overdrive, and on Friday morning, the world awoke to the news that “anti-Semitic groups” had gone “Jew hunting” in Amsterdam.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the “anti-Semitic pogrom”, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that military planes would be sent to evacuate Israeli citizens.
The wave of disrespect that was released from Israel was repeated unchecked by the Western media and the mainstream group of Western leaders, each outdoing the other in expressing great anger.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof condemned the “Semitic attack on Israeli citizens” and King Willem-Alexander lamented that “we failed the Jewish community … during World War II, and last night we failed again”. Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema condemned the “Semitic” attacks on “Jewish tourists”, comparing them to historical pogroms.
In the following days, the narrative of the “pogrom” diverged, as more details and witness accounts emerged. As the dust settled, one thing became clear: Palestinian unity is stronger than ever, and Zionism is collapsing.
‘Weapons of Jewish Security’
As major Western media outlets sought to present the events of November 7 in the terms the Israeli government had dictated, many failed to stick to the facts. For example, while the violence was presented as an “attack on Jews”, no such attacks were reported against the local Jewish community.
On that day, the commemoration of Kristallnacht, which marked the extermination of the Jews in Germany in 1938, was held peacefully. Throughout the day, there were no reports of attacks on Jewish institutions.
In addition, the violence inflicted by Maccabi supporters on local residents was poorly reported or not covered at all by the Western media. The idea that perhaps what happened was caused by the rebellion of Maccabi followers, most of whom are soldiers of the Israeli army, who were promoting the genocide and chanting the song of death for all Arabs, was not entertained.
Members of the local Jewish community who held critical views about what had happened were not sidelined.
Erev Rav, an anti-Zionist Jewish group based in the Netherlands, for example, called the “weapons of Jewish security incredibly frightening” on social media. In an interview, the writer Peter Cohen, who was a professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam, noted that “the Western Christian Union has been creating forms of anti-Semitism, soft and deadly, that are doing great harm to the Jews in Europe”. But he insisted that “people who criticize Israel are doing just that”, adding that “this does not make them anti-Semitic!”.
The spin given by the Western mainstream media to the story – that Arabs are “anti-Semitic” and Muslims attacking Jews – feeds into the false but dominant narrative that anti-Semitism in Europe is now confined to Arab and Muslim immigrants. This not only fuels and perpetuates anti-Arab prejudice and Islamophobia, but also diminishes and obscures the real and widespread anti-Semitism of Europe.
Palestinian unity
After the events of November 7, Amsterdam was placed under a state of emergency, which banned protests, banned face coverings and allowed “preventive searches” by the police. Residents of the area, especially those who regularly protest against Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, saw this as an unfair and disproportionate violation of their right to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech.
In defiance of the ban on demonstrations, on November 10, hundreds of people gathered in Dam Square, including me, in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Those who came out to protest represented the vast majority of people in Amsterdam – we were young, old, Dutch, international, Arab, Muslim, black, white, white, and anti-Zionist Israelis, united in our condemnation of Dutch complicity in Israel’s genocide. .
The police responded by confiscating Palestinian flags, placards and musical instruments, arresting people everywhere, and charging them with batons. Another woman suffered a brain injury as a result of police violence, according to her lawyer.
About 340 people, including myself, were put on buses and driven through the city, accompanied by many police vans and motorcycles. One could imagine from this show that the buses were transporting hardened criminals. They were actually holding unarmed peace activists who had been arrested for protesting.
We were taken to an industrial estate on the outskirts of Amsterdam and released, except for one Arab man who was arbitrarily selected, arrested and taken away. After that, all that was left for the police to do was fly a drone that monitored our movements.
When we returned to the center of the city, cars began to surround us, drivers begging us to get in and calling themselves Moroccan drivers who were colleagues who were attacked by Maccabi fans on November 6. In a happy act of unity after hours of police pressure, they returned us to Amsterdam, ensuring that we arrive home safely.
Protesters also protested against the ban on the demonstration on November 13, 281 people were arrested and police brutality.
Game over for Zionism
At first glance, the story that has come to dominate political statements and media coverage of the Amsterdam violence and the actions of the Dutch authorities may seem like another PR success for Israel. But that’s not the case.
It is yet another indication that the demise of Zionism is near. We see a genocidal regime in the throes of madness, making a last ditch effort to fulfill the biblical dream of creating a greater Israel by uprooting the Palestinian people.
As historian Ilan Pappe predicted in a recent article, “once Israel realizes the magnitude of this crisis, it will unleash brutal and unstoppable force to try to stop it”. The desperate attempt to distort the truth of the events in Amsterdam reflects this fear, and the willingness of Western leaders and the mainstream media to go along with this madness is inexcusable.
After a week of unrest, the pro-Palestinian movement scored a small victory: The Amsterdam City Council passed a resolution recognizing the “real and imminent genocide” in Gaza and called on the government to act. Meanwhile, Mayor Femke backtracked on his “pogrom” statement, saying it was armed by Israeli and Dutch politicians. A cabinet minister and two members of parliament have resigned in response to allegations of racism within the government, sparking political turmoil and exposing cracks in the right-wing government.
Although slow, the fall of Zionism has begun, and the call for a free Palestine is louder than ever.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.
