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amsterdam
The Amsterdam 'Pogrom' That Wasn't: Corporate Media Fails To Tell the Whole Story
The violence reportedly started when the far-right Israeli soccer hooligans began chanting racist and violent anti-Arab slogans, attacked Arab and Muslim residents, and vandalized houses and businesses with Palestinian flags.
Al Jazeerareported:
In one video, Israeli supporters were heard singing: “Let the IDF win, and f*** the Arabs!” referring to the Israeli army’s offensive on Gaza. Another video captured a fan screaming: “F*** you terrorists, Sinwar die, everybody die,” in reference to the Hamas leader who was killed last month.
The Israeli fans instigated the violence after arriving in the city and attacking Palestinian supporters before the match, an Amsterdam city council member said.
“They began attacking houses of people in Amsterdam with Palestinian flags, so that’s actually where the violence started,” Councilman Jazie Veldhuyzen told Al Jazeera on Friday.
“As a reaction, Amsterdammers mobilised themselves and countered the attacks that started on Wednesday by the Maccabi hooligans.”
Yet the corporate media - both in the US and abroad - portrayed the events as one-sided "anti-semitic" attacks on helpless soccer fans:
US President Joe Biden, his Secretary of State Tony Blinken, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer were quick to echo Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that the events in Amsterdam were unprovoked anti-semitic attacks reminiscent of pogroms or the Kristallnacht.
However many social media posts reported the context of the violence that was missing from corporate media reporting:
@martydoesnotplay On request: a recap of what has been happening in Amsterdam the past few days in which Zionist hooliguns from Tel Aviv attacked people on our streets and sang songs about burning Gaza down. But where only the response from clashes with them were caught up by the media. Placed within a narrative by the devil himself that this was anti-semitism 🍉
Over 100 Climate Activists Arrested for Blocking Private Jets From Taking Off in Amsterdam
Just ahead of the United Nations climate talks known as COP27 kicking off in Egypt this week, the joint action by Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace Netherlands targeted the landing strip used by private jets at the Schiphol Airport, one of the largest and busiest in Europe.
"We've been campaigning to stop Schiphol's large-scale pollution for years, and with good reason. The airport should be reducing its flight movements, but instead it's building a brand new terminal. The wealthy elite are using more private jets than ever, which is the most polluting way to fly. This is typical of the aviation industry, which doesn't seem to see that it is putting people at risk by aggravating the climate crisis. This has to stop. We want fewer flights, more trains and a ban on unnecessary short-haul flights and private jets," said Dewi Zloch on behalf of Greenpeace Netherlands in a statement.
Over 100 Climate Activists Arrested for Blocking Private Jets From Taking Off in Amsterdam
Over 100 Climate Activists Arrested for Blocking Private Jets From Taking Off in Amsterdam(Photo: (c) Marten van Dijl / Greenpeace)
Tessel Hofstede of Extinction Rebellion explained that a main target of the action is the very nature of the richest people in Europe and around the world who produce a disproportionate level of emissions by the consumption habits their outsized wealth affords.
"The exemptions that apply to Schiphol and for private flights show exactly where the problem lies in tackling the climate crisis," Hofstede explained. "Schiphol Airport is one of the biggest polluters in the Netherlands, yet almost half of the Dutch population never sets foot in an airplane. The wealthy 'jet set' is responsible for most of the flights and the highest carbon emissions, and nothing is being done to stop them."
Such wealthy people, Hofstede added, "are allowed to just carry on producing huge amounts of CO2, while people who are less well off suffer the burden of the climate crisis. This is unfair and unacceptable. It is high time aviation starts complying with the Paris climate agreement."
According to Reuters, "military police moved in and were seen taking dozens of the protesters away in buses." More than 100 activists were arrested, local outlets reported.
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