Here's a video from a native Amsterdammer, who will show us what the mainstream media has been lying to us about

yes I had read about the incidents of anti-Palestinian/anti-Muslim actions the day before the counter response against the Israeli fans. As usual anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian/anti-Arab violence and conduct is more or less tolerated around the world and has been for many decades. The fans/thugs in much of international soccer have been a problem that the organizations themselves have done far to little to address. They typically just pass it off to law enforcement to deal with what they encourage by their "wink and a nod" condemnations.

International soccer fans routinely show up in confrontations/provocations with citizens in cities of opposing clubs. The clubs themselves will do little other than issue words. There has been many decades of horrific violence and attacks by "fans" of clubs in England. People may remember the famous photo of a woman attending a match with a knife sticking out of her head after the opposing club's fans went on a rampage.

The international governing body, FIFA, has been uniquely inconsistent on these issues and mostly favors "kicking the can down the road" until the next controversy takes the previous one out of the spotlight. They have also been uniquely inconsistent on suspending nations from competing on the basis of violence and military actions by various nations. They nearly make F1 officials look marvelous by comparison.

It does not really explain what happened in Amsterdam. Arab folk were targeted. This is not the usual with these soccer "hooligans," as they are called. The violence is generally kept to around the stadium. Heck, it happens in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Eindhoven frequently after a match. It does not reach the level of tearing up people's property and racist chants. I have also read where the Israelis were aided by Mossad, in an Israeli newspaper. (Don't ask me which one, I think the Jerusalem Times, but not sure) Another reason why this was on another level.

Last edited Fri Nov 15, 2024, 01:10 PM - Edit history (2)

actions other than the English clubs etc. I meant that the Israeli clubs have acted this way towards the the other clubs in Israel and the West Bank. I remember reports of fires set at club facilities etc. According to one report I read the other day it is still only a smattering of players who are Israeli citizens of Arab descent who feel safe being known to play for clubs in the PFA. There is one famous Israeli club, Beitar Jerusalem, that up until a new owner bought it in 2020 was famous for loudly proclaiming pride in refusing to have any Arab players. I don't know how much progress they have made. They were the darling of the radical right in Israel.

Obviously a big question about the Amsterdam situation is how and why did this story get presented initially as so one-sided and for so many days? I would imagine a question that will never get much print is the role of organized propaganda efforts, their funding/extent of operations etc. We know that it exists and likely much of the funding is from "charitable" organizations. It is similar to the silence about these same kinds of organizations fund-raising to send American citizens for "vacations/trips" to Israel to have them provide administrative support/non-combat support at IDF bases in Israel.

That kind of thing is dubious at best and it points to the larger question of why the tax exempt donations are allowed to be used to provide support services to a military engaged in active conflict. One of the things we found during Iran-Contra was how a tangled, unaccountable mess could quickly evolve when a mish-mash of players are out telling lies in order to get donations and then cooking up their own intelligence/covert actions, making weapons deals etc.

Here is a link about Beitar Jerusalem and an example of 2 organizations with that support I referenced. There are more if one keeps exploring and the point being that the American public at large just has no idea the level of support and the extent of IDF leaders setting these groups in motion here and helping to oversee their growth. We at least have awareness and a debate? Right now if you ask Americans what our support to Israel is for the Gaza action they would nearly universally say "we're just providing weapons" when in fact it is far more than that. Our military people have been there from before the invasion and still are providing planning and logistics. Here also are links about that. The point being that the lack of awareness to the reality ends up with a population focused on only a selective part of the picture.

But it is an example, even among the more progressive sites in this country, of how narratives are shaped and distort reality. For example, nearly without exception the Western media does not source or quote Arab media for anything in the Middle East not just Israel but for anything. Their usual "justification" if they even give one is that Arab media isn't "objective" and "has an agenda". But they routinely embrace the Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Haaretz and others and somehow want to declare them bastions of "objectivity" and lacking an "agenda"? Good grief. But the big Western media somehow believes that if I want to read about the progress of a Saudi commercial development, for example, the only place I should go to is an Israeli or Western publication? Unbelievable but it is the situation we have now in media and I point all of this lengthy post as part of the answer, I guess to my own question, as to how the Amsterdam story got so misrepresented for so many days.

https://apnews.com/general-news-3173303b3ce7ced6f71cd8955f24af63

https://www.sar-el.org/

https://www.fidf.org/how-we-help/

https://www.israelhayom.com/2023/12/13/meet-the-american-volunteer-providing-top-of-range-equipment-to-idf-soldiers/

https://www.israelhayom.com/2023/10/24/pentagon-rushes-defenses-advisers-to-israel-as-gaza-ground-offensive-nears/#:~:text=The%20Pentagon%20has%20sent%20military%20advisors%2C%20including%20a,anticipated%20ground%20assault%20into%20the%20Hamas-controlled%20Gaza%20Strip.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-sends-senior-army-officers-to-israel-to-advise-idf-on-gaza-ground-operation-plans/

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/middle_east/2024-11-04/house-lawmakers-troops-middle-east-constitution-15735905.html