The Inversion

A rewrite of the Amsterdam Pogrom is becoming the dominant narrative of the event

With a resigned deputy minister, two resigned members of parliament and a coalition government under intense scrutiny we sort of have, a good two weeks on, the much expected Dutch political drama. What we did not see coming, but probably could have expected in some form, was a complete reframe of what happened that night. This post-event inversion of facts went down in two stages. Let me break it down.

Factual Reframe

The original story, summarized in my previous posts here and here, made it clear that Amsterdam youths, mostly with a Muslim background, planned an attack on the visiting Israeli football supporters. It was wild, violent and anti-Semitic, so much that the label ‘pogrom’ was attached to it as it met most of the criteria of that term. Yet over the past few weeks many Dutch news outlets, commentators and politicians have started to argue that the visiting Maccabi supporters actually provoked others and therefore quite likely initiated the resulting violence. Based on the facts a questionable interpretation, in particular if you take into account that the rioting and violence continued the following Monday when every single Israeli visitor had already left Amsterdam.

As late as yesterday we could see a prominent journalist argue in a talkshow that conclusions had been reached too fast, the only available evidence were some isolated videos that left much to be interpreted. And: prominent Israeli and Jewish voices had hyped up events and created a frame that was not aligned with events of that fateful night. Some voices went as far to accuse Israel of political interference after pre-match intelligence was shared.

As it is related, let me put forward one exhibit describing how Jewish kids go through life in the Dutch capital, as described by Marcel Levi in a column in Dutch newspaper ‘Het Parool’ this weekend:

“Around the school is a high fence and cameras. The entrance is sometimes guarded by armed military police. The building has reinforced walls and windows, there are obstacles against vehicles carrying explosives and in the school is a safety room against attacks”

This is a school. In Amsterdam. I will leave it to your imagination why that school is so incredibly battle ready.

Political Reframe

As concerning as the factual rewrite is, the political one takes it to another level altogether. Dutch prime-minister Dick Schoof immediately after the event stated that the attacks on Israelis in Amsterdam made it clear that “youths with an immigration background were over-represented” among the rioters which he followed up with saying that the Dutch continued to have an “integration problem”. Following this, the debate in Dutch media exploded and opponents of Schoof and his right-leaning coalition accused him of ‘dividing the nation’ and singling out certain immigrant groups and nationalities that reside in The Netherlands. Except, he didn’t. He referred to a small subset of immigrants only and indicated that they were a part of the rioting group, a large part yes, but not exclusively. He based himself on police reports, on facts established at that point in time without trying to score any political points.

The rumour mill started not long after deputy finance minister Nora Achahbar (who was born in Morocco) resigned a week later from Schoof’s coalition, allegedly as racist comments were made during a cabinet meeting. This of course was all that the opposition and media needed to paint the governing coalition as extremist and driven by a toxic anti-immigrant bias. But again, no such thing ever happened. As Achahbar herself said later: “I have no idea what happened. It’s like the old game where you whisper something in someone’s ear and at the end of the circle a completely different word comes out.” She resigned because of a broader discontent with government’s style and direction, not because of racism. There simply wasn’t any.

But getting post-event facts clarified will do little to stem the barrage of commentary and coloured analysis, and more particularly the prevailing narrative. We are now down to assessing the violent pogrom as a fight between football supporters and other youths, largely caused by rampaging supporters from Maccabi Tel Aviv. That same narrative argues that the unfortunate Moroccan immigrant community is once more isolated and cut-off from Dutch society thanks to a racist right-wing coalition government. Some of it goes as far as casting PM Schoof - who has an intelligence services background and was not directly elected - as a nefarious deep state actor who wants to keep The Netherlands racially pure. I am not kidding. But as crazy as it all sounds, do take it seriously as this repackaged truth is rapidly becoming the dominant story.

One more exhibit. Today a letter addressed to PM Schoof calling for an arms embargo on Israel signed by some 2,000 prominent Dutch (former politicians and diplomats, writers, public figures etc.) states that events in Amsterdam have shown that “the poisonous Israeli apartheid reality further trickles down into the Dutch political debate and society”. Again, the blame for the violence in both Amsterdam and the Middle East is deliberately shifted to Israel. This letter almost has an undertone of enthusiasm: the signatories are filled with a level of glee as to how the Middle East conflict is turning up in and dividing Dutch society. It has given them a tool to create a forceful wedge to undermine the governing coalition, facts be damned.

So?

At this stage the actual events of that violent night in Amsterdam have long disappeared from the headlines, it has all turned into a distasteful political brawl where the truth is buried, deep. And in doing so the Dutch are experiencing levels of anti-Semitism not seen in some eighty years. It is rampant. The forces that are actively inverting the story for their own political objectives are not to be underestimated, they have roots deep into the media, the civil service, universities and other institutions. The forces of reason and the Jewish community have a long fight on their hands to counter this well-orchestrated barrage of manipulation, hate and inversion.