Utterly surreal: Israeli media undermines its own propaganda about Maccabi Tel Aviv

Israeli media outlet Ynet just tried to propagandise the recent brawls involving Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligans in Amsterdam. But it failed miserably.

Maccabi Tel Aviv coverage in Ynet: ‘utterly surreal’

The title of the article was “This is what a pogrom looks like, this is the new antisemitism”. But as Owen Jones pointed out on X, the connection between the headline and the opening section was “utterly surreal”. Why? Because despite trying to convince readers that the response to Maccabi Tel Aviv provocations in the city was somehow an ‘antisemitic pogrom’, the first paragraph reads:

This is what an Israeli woman who arrived in Amsterdam two days before the soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax clubs wrote about the atmosphere in the city: “There were huge gatherings and shouts of ‘Death to Arabs’ in Amsterdam’s main squares, alongside violence against people holding Palestinian flags.”

This woman then added that:

Leaving the game, 10 Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were roaming the train looking for a Palestinian to ‘beat up’ (their words).

And while these comments undermined the Ynet article’s ridiculous headline, they seemed to capture the situation well. Because there are countless reports of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans’ provocations in the city. And hooligans appeared to attack Arabs or pro-Palestinians in particular:

A taxi driver in Amsterdam was filming Maccabi supporters tearing down a Palestinian flag when his car was attacked and hooligans tried to drag him out of it. His lawyer is now documenting other cases of violence racism committed by Maccabi fans.@stepvaessen reporting. pic.twitter.com/wFj81rdSPS

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) November 12, 2024

Arab taxi drivers apparently bore the brunt of the hooligans’ hostility. But the corporate media, in its efforts to push the propaganda of the genocidal Israeli apartheid state, has paid little attention to their side of the story. Independent journalists have spoken to numerous drivers, though, many of whom fear media smears against them if they appear on camera. One said:

These [Maccabi Tel Aviv] supporters, they [media and political elites] make them out to be like a peaceful Boy Scout association, but that is the framing of the media which is not correct at all.

So here it is…

The full story of the taxi-drivers in #Amsterdam with English subtitles.

Spread the word! pic.twitter.com/EYVyR81ohD

— 🔻 OneWord187 🔻 (@OneWord187) November 11, 2024

“Holocaust trivialisation”

The Western corporate media ignored (or at best underplayed) the many provocations leading up to the local resistance to Maccabi  Tel Aviv hooligans. It minimised their anti-Arab racism, failed to highlight their “culture of genocide” and the deplorable genocidal nature of their chants. And there was no emphasis on FIFA and UEFA consistently ignoring requests to follow through on their own regulations by banning Israeli teams like Maccabi Tel Aviv (in line with their banning of, for example, Russian teams).

Even the Ynet article itself shared the Amsterdam police chief’s admission that “the Israelis started the riots”. And it consistently clarified with its language that the violence had little to do with locals attacking Jewish people for being Jewish but with “Israelis” and “Maccabi Tel Aviv fans”.

Former Israeli negotiator Daniel Levy has spoken very clearly about the events in Amsterdam. He is fully aware of the dangers of antisemitism, but stressed that:

What happened in Amsterdam is something entirely different

He called Western propaganda over Amsterdam “intentional misdirection” and “a form of Holocaust trivialisation”, insisting:

European leaders, deeply complicity in this plausible genocide in Gaza, may be telling their publics ‘it’s normal to welcome Israel and its football teams’. But masses of people in Europe do not want racist thugs, chanting racist slogans embracing that genocide, to threaten and march through their towns and cities. They should not and will not accept this. There is no normal sport under genocide and apartheid.

"There is no normal sport under genocide and apartheid."

Political analyst Daniel Levy emphasises that the clashes with Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam are about the normalisation and encouragement of Israel’s war on Gaza, not anti-Semitism. pic.twitter.com/lzmcjsLDnW

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) November 12, 2024

Levy is right. It’s not at all normal to allow genocide apologists to roam the streets aggressively provoking people. And that’s why we should all push FIFA and other organisations to suspend Israeli teams until, at the very least, the genocide in Gaza ends.

Featured image via the Canary