Calls for ‘Jew Hunt’, anti-Arab slurs: What sparked the Amsterdam attack

[Karah]

LAST WEEK WE REPORTED ON A VIOLENT OUTBREAK IN AMSTERDAM –

WHERE AUTHORITIES SAY ISRAELI SOCCER FANS WERE ATTACKED BY REPORTED “PRO-PALESTINIAN RIOTERS”

SINCE THE INITIAL REPORT –

FOREIGN MEDIA OUTLETS HAVE QUESTIONED WHETHER THE ISRAELI SOCCER FANS “INSTIGATED” THE VIOLENCE.

SOME MEDIA OUTLETS ARE REVISING THEIR COVERAGE –

AS NEW DETAILS CONTINUE TO EMERGE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED LEADING UP TO VIOLENCE IN THE STREETS OF A CITY RICH WITH HOLOCAUST HISTORY.

HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW.

ON THURSDAY NIGHT – AFTER A SOCCER MATCHUP BETWEEN AN ISRAELI TEAM AND AN AMSTERDAM-BASED TEAM – VIOLENCE AGAINST ISRAELI SOCCER FANS ERUPTED.

FANS WERE CHASED, CORNERED AND BEATEN – ACCORDING TO DUTCH AUTHORITIES.

THE CONTROVERSY ISN’T OVER WHETHER THE FANS WERE VIOLENTLY ATTACKED.

IT’S OVER WHAT HAPPENED LEADING UP TO THE NIGHT’S BOILING POINT.

ISRAELI SOCCER FANS WERE ALLEGEDLY CAUGHT ON VIDEO PULLING DOWN PALESTINIAN FLAGS ACROSS THE CITY – VANDALIZING A TAXI CAB – AND CHANTING ANTI-ARAB SAYINGS.

SOME MEDIA OUTLETS REPORTED ON THESE INCIDENTS AS “STOKING THE FLAMES” LEADING UP TO THURSDAY NIGHT’S VIOLENCE.

BUT SOME OUTLETS HAVE BACKTRACKED ON THAT RHETORIC.

SKY NEWS – A LEFT-LEANING NEWS OUTLET, ACCORDING TO ALL SIDES’S MEDIA RATINGS –

UPLOADED THIS REPORT – AFTER DELETING THEIR INITIAL ONE, WHICH HAD DEPICTED

ISRAELI FANS AS INSTIGATORS – NOTING IN THEIR ORIGINAL REPORT ISRAELIS ON THE FAR RIGHT ARE KNOWN FOR RACISM AND VIOLENCE.

“ISRAELI FAR-RIGHT ULTRAS ARE NOTORIOUS FOR THEIR RACISM AND PHYSICAL VIOLENCE.”

THIS LINE FROM THEIR ORIGINAL REPORT WAS CUT OUT IN THE REVISED ONE.

IN AN EDITOR’S NOTE – SKY NEWS EXPLAINED THE NEWLY UPLOADED REPORT REPLACED THEIR “PREVIOUS VIDEO WHICH DIDN’T MEET SKY NEWS’ STANDARDS FOR BALANCE AND IMPARTIALITY.”

NOW –

DUTCH AUTHORITIES SAY THE ATTACK ON ISRAELI SOCCER FANS WAS ORGANIZED DAYS BEFORE CHAOS WAS UNLEASHED.

THEY SAY ATTACKERS WERE COORDINATING THROUGH MESSAGING APPS – LIKE “WHATSAPP” AND “TELEGRAM.”

AMSTERDAM’S MAYOR SAYS ATTACKERS SPOKE OF “GOING ON JEW HUNTS” –

SHARING DETAILS OF WHICH HOTELS FANS WERE STAYING AT –

AND TRACKING THEIR MOVEMENTS.

TELEGRAM SAYS IT CLOSED DOWN A GROUP CHAT THAT “MIGHT HAVE BEEN LINKED” TO THE ATTACKS.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT – ONE DAY BEFORE THE SOCCER MATCH – PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS SURROUNDED A LOCAL CASINO WITH JEWISH SOCCER FANS INSIDE.

AS FANS LEFT THE CASINO – A SERIES OF ATTACKS UNFOLDED.

A SECURITY GUARD FOR THE CASINO WAS FIRED AFTER HE WAS FOUND TO HAVE SENT MESSAGES TO OTHERS ALERTING THEM OF ISRAELI FANS WHEREABOUTS, THE NEW YORK TIMES REPORTED.

A SCREENSHOT OF THE EXCHANGE CITED THE CASINO ATTACKS AS A QUOTE “JEW HUNT” AND CALLED FOR “PART TWO” OF THEIR “JEW HUNT” TO OCCUR THE NEXT DAY AFTER THE SOCCER GAME.

AMSTERDAM’S OWN CITY COUNCIL IS IN DISAGREEMENT ON HOW TO CATEGORIZE THE ATTACKS.

SOME SAY THE UNREST WAS A “REACTION” TO ISRAELI FANS TEARING DOWN PALESTINIAN FLAGS IN THE CITY.

WHILE OTHERS SAY THE ATTACKS SPARKED OUT OF AN ANTISEMITIC AGENDA.

THE NEW YORK TIMES WROTE OF THE CONTROVERSY –

In Amsterdam, many civic leaders agree on basic facts.

They largely concur that some Israeli fans stoked anger in the city’s Muslim population by chanting incendiary and racist slogans.

They also agree that Israeli fans were assaulted on multiple occasions in different locations, often in hit-and-run attacks on bikes and on foot, and that some attackers appear to have singled out their victims for being Jewish.

AUTHORITIES CONTINUE TO INVESTIGATE WHAT HAPPENED IN AMSTERDAM LAST WEEK –

MORE THAN 60 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ARRESTED.

THOUSANDS OF JEWISH PEOPLE BOARDED “EMERGENCY FLIGHTS” OUT OF AMSTERDAM OVER THE WEEKEND AS FALLOUT FROM THE ATTACKS LINGERS IN THE CITY.