10 november 2024
Hooligans
Somtime’s when I feel strongly about something, I write an article. Often it gets published. Probably beceaus newspapers like the fact that I am a little famous. This time I tried to get an essay published abroad. But since I am not famous out side of holland, I could not find a magazine or newspaper interested. So her it is, Only on my site for no one to read
It felt a little surreal to wake up in Amsterdam on Friday, November 8th, and see my phone flooded with messages from friends in Israel and the US asking if I was alright. Apparently something horrendous had happened while I was asleep.
The night before, I had been invited to the Ajax stadium to watch Ajax play Maccabi Tel Aviv. Inside the stadium, it felt as if there were no outside world, no war, and no occupation to worry about. Only when before the game the players and referees gathered at the center of the pitch for a moment of silence to honor the victims of the Spanish floods did the outside world strickled in. When the lights dimmed and the players stood silent, only the cheers of the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans—who did not join the silence—could be heard. Looking up at 5,000 dancing and singing spectators shaking golden pompoms, while the rest of us stood silent, I wondered if they hadn’t understood the reason for the silence, if they couldn’t imagine the suffering of others, or if they just saw the match, like hooligans often do, as an excuse to misbehave for the sake of misbehaving.
When the game began, Ajax and Maccabi fans started the usual singing competition, with Ajax fans chanting “Super Jews, Super Jews.” Until recently, Ajax ultras, who call themselves “Super Jews,” waved Israeli flags during matches in order to support their club. Ajax is often referred to by opposing fans as a “Jewish club.” since Amsterdam as traditionally held the largest Jewish community in the country. This odd and uncomfortable nickname has, like always with antisemitism, both nothing and everything to do with actual Jews. But after October 7th, the waving of Israeli flags stopped. It became too controversial, even for die-hard Ajax fans, some of whom have that flag tattooed on their body. The chant “Jump if you’re a Jew” persisted however. When Ajax took a three-nil lead, half the stadium was jumping to prove they were Jews. The Tel Aviv supporters, many of whom I think are Jewish, did not jump. Neither did I, nor did most Amsterdam Jews, who support Ajax but find the chant, however well meant, more than a bit uncomfortable.
Other than the result, the game itself was unremarkable, although I must admit that, having grown up surrounded by non-Jews, I still feel a small thrill when professional footballers have Jewish names. A young boy beside me loved the name Raz Shlomo. Sloom meaning slow in Dutch.
In and around the stadium, I didn’t see one Palestinian flag, nor any statement against the war or occupation. That in itself is quite remarkable in a city where many residents are concerned if not outraged by the way Israel has retaliated after the massacre of October 7th. The Maccabi fans did manage to sneak in two Israeli flags and a significant amount of fireworks. But that did not seem to bother anybody. The only time you could feel the anger was when Eran Zahavi entered the pitch, but that was because he used to play for PSV Eindhoven, one of Ajax arch-rivals.
And then, the next morning, my phone was filled with messages similar to the ones I remember sending to friends in Israel hiding from bombs. It took a few hours to understand what had happened. On social media, I saw videos of Maccabi supporters being violently beaten in the streets, while other accounts I found videos of large groups of Maccabi fans chanting victory over Arabs and tearing down Palestinian flags. Flags put up by Dutch citizens in support of the Palestinian cause.
It’s futile, as always, to argue over who started what. I fully believe the Dutch police when they say the attacks on Israeli fans were pre-meditated. That’s how hooligans act now that they have social media. But we shouldn’t forget that violence and football have a long, tangled history in Europe. For more than 15 years, Feyenoord fans haven’t been allowed in Amsterdam during games, because the police can’t guarantee their safety. And it’s the same for Ajax fans visiting Rotterdam. When the Ajax women’s team won the championship last year, the ultra’s threatened the club in to no celebrating that win because the men’s team had had a bad year. The men hunting Maccabi fans in the street might not have been fans of Ajax, it’s clear they borrowed their antics from hooligans.
When hooligans clash, each side convinces itself that it’s “defending” themselves by destroying and attacking the other side. And yes, there is a strong reason to think antisemitism was involved; hooligans are often bigoted. But the rage over horrific images coming from Gaza, the west bank and Lebanon likely played a role as well.
What seems to have gotten lost in this discussion is that the Dutch police did everything they could to protect the Maccabi fans. The Mayor of Amsterdam expressed how horrified she was by the violence, and even the King condemned the events of that night. Something he did not do when hooligans prevented the Ajax women from celebrating their championship title. Meanwhile, I saw hardly any mention of Maccabi fans misbehaving. News of that took days to emerge, and by then, most of the world’s attention had already moved on to the next outrage.
So, when politicians from all over condemned what happened in Amsterdam as if it was a unprecedented one sided attack on jews that came out of no were. When politicians from Israel an Holland insist on calling it a pogrom, I have to object. It’s awful that so many Israelis felt unsafe in the city where I live, but I can’t recall ever reading about pogroms where local police did everything possible to stop the attacks and restore order and safety.
What’s even more disturbing is the support the Maccabi fans received from Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders, whose “support” for Israel always includes insulting Islam and blaming multiculturalism for everything. As usual he called for deportations. Essentially using antisemitism to inject more hate and bigotry in to Dutch society while ignoring the blatant antisemitism of his internationals ally’s and within his own party. His message is: antisemitism is fine, as long as it douse not come from Muslims or people who look like them.
It’s touching that his friend Benjamin Netanyahu offered to send two planes to evacuate Maccabi fans from Amsterdam. And a little disturbing that the Dutch government did not reprehend him for suggesting they needed such an intervention. But if he truly cares so much about his citizens’ safety, he might want to look at what his own police are doing to peaceful Palestinian Israeli citizens who show even the slightest criticism of his government’s messianic agenda—not to mention the daily violence police backed settlers inflict on wat can only be called second-class citizens.
Wilders, Netanyahu, and the hooligans causing chaos in Amsterdam all have one thing in common: they have no real interest in law and order, nor do they understand that a civil society can only exist if al citizens are protected against violence. For them the outrage over what happened in Amsterdam is a tool to perpetuate more hate so that the circle of violence will only grow. The kind of violence their own supports resort to when they don’t get there way, the kind of violence condemned by the mayor of Amsterdam, and the kind of violence we remember when we commemorate Kristallnacht.
Volg Micha