Provocations by Zionist football fans after Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv match

Editorial board of the NCPN

On the 7th of november several confrontations took place in Amsterdam as Maccabi Tel Aviv fans clashed with local residents. The disturbances began after supporters chanted slogans such as “let the IDF slaughter all the Arabs” and a minute of silence for the flood victims in Valencia was disrupted. These actions followed earlier incidents in which Maccabi supporters tore Palestinian flags off buildings, harassed people with Palestinian symbols in the streets and attacked taxi drivers.

As the night progressed, the confrontations in the streets escalated as residents of Amsterdam turned against the supporters’ behaviour. While the media and political circles tried to paint the situation as “anti-Semitism”, it is clear that this was a reaction to Zionist provocations that were allowed to proceed unhindered by the Amsterdam police. Video footage of the events shows Maccabi supporters defacing houses with Palestinian flags and attacking people of Arab appearance in the streets, while the police did nothing.

It is worth noting that a demonstration in solidarity with Palestine had already been banned in the context of the football match, while the police gave Maccabi supporters free rein to commit acts of destruction and provocation. This is not the first time that these football fans have acted violently against the local population. Last March, a man of Iraqi descent was severely beaten and hospitalised in Athens because he was wearing a Palestinian scarf (keffiyeh).

The NCPN chapter in North Holland and the CJB chapter in Amsterdam condemn the way in which the government, in the context of maintaining military, financial and political ties with Israel, allows provocative behaviour and portrays the in many cases understandable reaction of the Amsterdam population as "antisemitism".