MEMO Monitoring: Does this video disprove the media narrative on Amsterdam violence?

The misuse of this video is emblematic of the false narrative that the violence against Israelis was purely anti-Semitic. The Maccabi Tel Aviv fans spent the days before their match with Ajax attacking people and homes, tearing down Palestine flags, and singing chants that were both racist and genocidal. It’s in this context that Amsterdam locals fought back against the Israelis – in self-defence – after extreme violence and provocation.

Some media outlets have now removed the footage from their online platforms, but like previous falsehoods spread in the mainstream press about the 7 October attacks, the fact that the BBC, CNN and leading news shows around Europe have already broadcast it on their prime-time shows, means the damage has already been done in terms of how the general public will understand the attacks.

The dictionary definition of anti-Semitism is ‘hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group’, the Israeli fans were not there for Yom Kippur, they were not chanting Talmudic rituals in the street or reading passages from the Torah. They were attacked for their thuggery, violence and provocations, and to say there’s anything inherently Jewish about this behaviour, would in itself be anti-Semitic.

MEMO Monitoring: UK media’s pro-Israel bias revealed