This article presents a critical survey of Dutch media commentary on the clashes around the football match between the Dutch Ajax and Maccabi-Tel Aviv clubs held on November 7th, 2024, in Amsterdam.
Excerpt:
“While our people were mostly looking overseas this week, other countries are now focused on us,” explained a news anchor from the Dutch national news on Friday evening, November 8th. This was a few days after the US presidential election, but also the next day after the Dutch football club Ajax played a home match in Amsterdam against the Israeli football club, Maccabi - Tel Aviv. The city had been on edge for a few days before the match due to anxieties about the incoming Israeli fans and the broader potential connections to the Israel-Palestine conflict. On Wednesday, November 6th, Maccabi supporters removed a Palestinian flag from a building facade and burned another one in the city’s central Dam Square. A taxi was also destroyed. In response, a group of local taxi drivers gathered near a casino where several hundred Israeli supporters had congregated and police had to intervene. After the match on November 7, tensions mounted again between locals and Israeli supporters that culminated in clashes throughout the city center when Maccabi supporters were attacked and, among other things, made to scream “Free Palestine!” A few Maccabi supporters were hospitalized and Dutch police made multiple arrests.
The events sparked worldwide media coverage and were featured on virtually every national news outlet. Popular news sources such as De Telegraaf (“The Telegraph”) and Het Algemeen Dagblad (“The General Daily Paper”) and De Volkskrant (“The People’s Paper”) reported extensively on the incidents for several days. When considered in relation to the polarizing reality of an intensified Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is worth exploring some of the different Dutch media narratives and analyzing how they differ from one other.
