BBC News website coverage of attacks on Israelis in Amsterdam

BBC News website coverage of attacks on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam following a match on the night of November 7th commenced with a report initially published on its ‘Netherlands’ page on the morning of November 8th.

Originally headlined “Israel sends rescue planes after clashes in Amsterdam”, that report by BBC News Digital Europe editor Paul Kirby was amended eighteen times in the hours that followed, with a subsequent headline reading “Israeli football fans attacked in Amsterdam, officials say” and a photo caption telling readers that “Police said it was unclear who was involved in the unrest as they were wearing dark clothing”. [emphasis added]

The current version of that report – also appearing on the website’s ‘Middle East’ page – is titled “We must not turn blind eye to antisemitism, says Dutch king after attacks on Israeli football fans”. The caption to a video at the top of the report also uses the symmetry implying term “clashes” – “Clashes in Amsterdam as Maccabi Tel Aviv play Ajax” – and viewers of the video are told that “Football and politics clash on the streets of Amsterdam”.

Kirby’s report includes quotes from a variety of Dutch officials and bodies, including the mayor of Amsterdam.

“Mayor Halsema said Dutch counter-terror co-ordinator NCTV had not flagged any concrete threat about the game itself as there was no animosity between the fans of the two clubs. There was no trouble at the game in which Ajax inflicted a heavy 5-0 defeat on the visiting team.” […]

“Asked whether locals had been provoked by a Palestinian flag being torn down in the city, the mayor said what had happened in the centre of her city had nothing to do with protests about the situation in the Middle East.

“I am deeply ashamed of the behaviour that unfolded,” Halsema told reporters. “On Telegram [messaging] groups people talked of going to hunt down Jews. It’s so terrible I can’t find the words for it.”

In a statement, Telegram said it had closed a group chat on the platform which “may have been linked to the disturbance”. The company said it did not tolerate “calls to violence” and would cooperate with the Dutch authorities.”

Readers of this report are not informed that ahead of the match, the Dutch authorities had reportedly received information from their Israeli counterparts concerning pre-planned violence coordinated on social media or that earlier attacks had already taken place the day before the football match took place. As reported by the Telegraph:

“The Telegraph has seen messages from a group chat called Buurthuis, a Dutch word for a type of community centre, which were posted on Wednesday, the day before the match.

One message says: “Tomorrow after the game, at night, part 2 of the Jew Hunt.

“Tomorrow we work them.”

Another member of the group says: “Who can sort fireworks?” adding, “We need a lot of fireworks”. Participants refer to “cancer dogs”, a particularly vile insult in the Netherlands.”

Kirby did however find fit to promote the following quote:

“The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned “anti-Arab chants” and an “attack on the Palestinian flag,” calling on the Dutch government to “protect Palestinians and Arabs” living in the Netherlands.”

Kirby’s report promotes a link to another BBC News website report on the same story which was published on the afternoon of November 8th under the headline “‘They shouted Jewish, IDF’: Israeli football fans describe attack in Amsterdam”. That report does mention one of the earlier attacks: 

“Gal Binyanmin Tshuva, 29, told the BBC he was attacked on Wednesday outside a casino after watching a different football game.

“We faced around 20 people who ran towards us. They asked me where I was from, and I said I was from Greece. They said they didn’t believe me and they asked to see my passport.

When he told them he didn’t have it, the men beat him, pushed him to the ground and kicked his face, Mr Tshuva said.

“I don’t remember anything after that, and I woke up in an ambulance with blood all over my face, and realised they had broken two of my teeth.””

Writer Gabriela Pomeroy however considered it relevant to inform readers that:

“Some Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have previously been involved in racist incidents in Israel, including cursing at the team’s Palestinian and Arab players and reportedly applying pressure on the team to oust them.

Fans of the team have also previously attacked protesters demonstrating against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

The BBC News website also opened a live page on the morning of November 8th.

One of the earlier entries on that live page originally read as follows:

The surname of that single “witness” was subsequently removed:

Even later, the name of the London-based BBC Verify reporter who supplied that obviously unverified account (which some may find reminiscent of BBC reporting on the Oxford Street story three years ago) was also removed from the entry:

That unexplained editing did not prevent the use of Park-Froud’s entry by parties interested in promoting a particular narrative, including a former BBC Urdu social media editor and the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign which has been organising anti-Israel demonstrations in the UK for the past 13 months.

A particularly notable aspect of the BBC’s reporting on this story is the chosen portrayal of the perpetrators of the violent attacks against the Israeli football fans. In Kirby’s report, readers find portrayals of “Youths on scooters”, “pro-Palestinian protesters”, “young men on scooters”, “people […] shouting pro-Palestinian slogans”, “people on mopeds” and “taxi drivers”. In Pomeroy’s report the perpetrators are described as “groups of young men”, “men on scooters”, “taxi drivers”, “men yelling antisemitic threats”, “young men on scooters” and “people in Amsterdam”.

Interestingly, the BBC did not find it necessary to provide its audiences with any information on the topic of the context of Hamas’ anti-Israel activities in the Netherlands.

Related Articles:

BBC NEWS MISREPRESENTS ISRAELI PRESIDENT’S SPEECH

BBC NEWS CORRECTS INACCURATE ACCOUNT OF ISRAELI PRESIDENT’S SPEECH

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3 Comments

  1. says: Louis Garb

    Bad phraseology for the July item. It should COMMENCE not finish with “according to Hamas health authorities….
    The reader must be alerted from the word go as to the lack of credibility of what follows

  2. says: Louis Garb

    If a Palestinian poster was indeed torn down, possibly the B.B.C could inform us why there was no violent Jewish rampage in the streets of London and other cities when posters of the kidnapped Israeli children were uniformly torn down and defaced?

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