Political football: Is misinformation about riots in Amsterdam further fueling social division?

Warning: Distressing content

Rioting and unrest spurred by a Europa League football match in Amsterdam has continued, one week since it first broke out. Despite calls for the series to pause, Paris is preparing to host the next match, ramping up police presence.

Riots broke out in Amsterdam after the match between Israel's Maccabi Tel-Aviv and the Netherland's Ajax, with five people hospitalised and 63 arrested.

Mayor Femke Halsema said Maccabi supporters were beaten and kicked by gangs on scooters who performed "hit-and-run" attacks. She labelled the attacks as "antisemitic".

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof denounced the "terrible antisemitic attack" and canned his trip to the United Nations Climate Conference COP29, citing the "major social impact" of the rioting.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said she was "outraged" by the "vile attacks" and UN chief António Guterres was "shocked by the violence". US President Joe Biden described the riots as "despicable" and said they "echo dark moments in history when Jews were persecuted".

Sarah Schwartz, a human rights lawyer and Executive Officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, told SBS Examines the first reports she saw and heard were "terrifying”.

“We heard that people were messaging each other saying that they were going to hunt down Jews. We saw reporting on the news of Israeli fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv being assaulted,” she said.

"For myself and for many other Jewish people, seeing that was really shocking and brought back so much of what we know about European antisemitism, particularly seeing it take place in the Netherlands.

"The story that we didn't hear and that I didn't know until later on, was what the Israeli Maccabi fans had been doing in Amsterdam prior to this sort of coordinated attack against them.

On Friday, Amsterdam's acting police chief Peter Holla confirmed the first reports of unrest began on the evening before the match.

Israeli supporters gathered at Dam Square, burned a Palestinian flag, destroyed a taxi and allegedly physically assaulted the Muslim taxi driver. Muslim taxi drivers gathered at a nearby casino, responding to a call on social media, and clashed with almost 400 Israeli supporters before police intervened.

On Thursday, Maccabi fans were filmed chanting anti-Arab slogans on their way to John Cruyff Arena. Police escorted over 2,500 fans and disbanded pro-Palestinian protesters waiting outside the stadium.

After the game and into the early hours of Friday, Maccabi fans were chased down and attacked by masked groups on scooters and e-bikes.

said witness accounts and screenshots of mobile phone message exchanges suggested some were targeted because they were Jewish.

Dutch photographer Annette de Graaf was standing outside Central Station on Thursday night and filmed Maccabi supporters setting off flares and fireworks and chanting anti-Arab slogans.

"At 11.15 I was there, waiting, and two groups of supporters came, one directly from Central Station . . .and the other was approaching me on the right side," she told

.

She said she sensed "aggression".

Ms de Graaf filmed much of what she saw and

. The post went viral and her footage was included in reporting by outlets including CNN, BBC, Sky News and the New York Times.

However, Ms de Graaf has accused the outlets of spreading disinformation by intentionally misidentifying the Maccabi supporters.

Sky News UK originally posted a segment on the unrest describing the group filmed in de Graaf's footage as Maccabi fans. The segment was later wiped from their platforms and replaced with one describing the group as "hooded men".

"That is terrible because it is the opposite of what happened in that footage," said de Graaf.

She posted a message to the media on X, requesting an apology for the misuse of her footage, it's removal and the truth.

"Write it down: Maccabi supporters attacked Amsterdam citizens in front of Central Station after the game," she wrote.

The spread of misinformation was compounded by the language used to condemn the unrest.

Ms Schwartz said references to the Holocaust, and describing the violence as a ‘pogrom’, was “extremely dangerous”.

“There is a long history of Jewish people being subjected to pogroms,” she said.

“They were violent acts … that often led to Jewish people being forced out of different areas, particularly in Europe.

“It could be tempting for people to see people speaking about a Jew hunt, and speaking about going and attacking Jewish people, as an attack that is akin to these historical events.”

But Ms Schwartz said a critical component of both pogroms and the Holocaust was the "lack of state protection" of Jewish people, which allowed for "violent acts of ethnic cleansing".

“In this instance, there was immediate swift action by Dutch authorities who immediately not only condemned the act … it’s very clear that Jewish people in the Netherlands do have support from the government,” she said.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong condemned the riots on X, noting that “violence in all its forms is unacceptable”.

“The Antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam overnight are abhorrent. My thoughts are with those affected and their families. We must stand together against antisemitism and hate in all its forms.”

While Ms Schwartz believes antisemitic violence should be condemned, she said "not all of the assaults had an antisemitic motive". She believes some of them were responding to the violence and chants by some Maccabi fans.

She said the “selective reporting” of the attacks has real consequences for communities in Australia and around the world, fuelling both Islamophobia and antisemitism.

“When you erase one form of racism and you only look at another form of racism, that being antisemitism, it increases divisions across racialised groups,” she said.