Did Sky News remove a report that highlighted violence by Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters? – Liberation

On the night of Thursday November 7 to Friday November 8, clashes broke out in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, after a match between the Dutch football club Ajax and Maccabi Tel-Aviv. Images of violence committed against Israeli supporters, attacked in certain images because “Jews”, have been the subject of numerous political and media reactions, denouncing attacks of an anti-Semitic nature.

The analyzes of the course of the night, carried out by Liberation and some other media like the Worldhighlighted, ahead of the post-match violence, provocations from both Ajax and Maccabi Tel-Aviv supporters. What the police chief in Amsterdam said: “The violence had already started on Wednesday evening between supporters. It was a night with incidents on both sides. Maccabi supporters removed a flag from a facade of the Rokin and destroyed a taxi. A Palestinian flag was set on fire at the dam.

The treatment of violence by the media has since been the subject of cross-criticism on social networks, with some Internet users denouncing a media blackout over the racist provocations of supporters of Maccabi Tel-Aviv, while others deplore that these behavior is sometimes presented as justifying the violence against Israeli supporters who followed the match.

Palestinian flags torn down, attacks on residents, racist chants

In this context, the British television channel Sky News was accused by pro-Palestinian Internet users of having deleted a report which documented violence committed by Israeli supporters. “This is a huge media scandal. Sky News released a video detailing what happened in Amsterdam. She described the violence perpetrated by Israeli hooligans and their odious racism. They then deleted it,” thus denounces, on X, the left-wing British journalist, columnist and writer Owen Jones, who broadcasts the video which was initially posted.

This video was published by Sky News after the violence. CheckNews was able to find a version published Saturday morning on the British channel’s Facebook account. Its description on Facebook (“Maccabi Tel Aviv fans tore up Palestinian flags and chanted racist anti-Arab slogans. Fans of the Israeli team were attacked and fights took place in the streets. Sky’s Alice Porter explains) are screenshots of X’s deleted message.

In her commentary, correspondent Alice Porter particularly underlined the involvement of Maccabi Tel-Aviv supporters in several provocations (Palestinian flags torn down, attacks against residents without intervention from the Dutch police, racist and anti-Arab chants), while evoking images of violence committed against Israeli supporters. Two comments from Alice Porter pointed out that “Israeli far-right ultras are known for their racism and physical violence” and that statements by Dutch, Israeli and British leaders condemning anti-Semitic attacks “failed to mention the attacks committed by Israeli hooligans against Dutch citizens.”

“A video that did not meet the criteria of balance and impartiality”

On the Sky News website, this first version cannot be found. The British channel now offers another video, lasting 2 minutes and 54 seconds. The channel specifies that“this is a re-edit of a previous video which did not meet Sky News’ criteria for balance and impartiality”. What changes were made in the second version? CheckNews transcribed and translated the two versions of the subject devoted to the violence committed in Amsterdam on the night of Thursday to Friday.

In the following document, we have included the first version of the text on the left and the new version on the right. In red, we have underlined the passages that have been changed or even completely deleted (in bold and underlined) in the old version. In the right column, dedicated to the new text, we have included in blue the three quotes which have been added; in green, the added information; and in orange, the changes made to the old version.

The deletions mainly concern passages on the reputation of far-right Israeli supporters, as well as a passage noting that the various Dutch, Israeli and British politicians who denounced the attacks “failed to mention the attacks committed by Israeli hooligans.”

“A large group of hooded men”

The second version is also more cautious about the description of certain images. So when the deleted video described “Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters tearing down Palestinian flags outside houses” or “Maccabi fans were seen attacking residents”the update describes “three men” et “a large group of hooded men dressed in black.” The name Maccabi Tel-Aviv is never mentioned to designate the perpetrators of these acts. A sentence was also added by Sky News to confirm that a second Palestinian flag had been torn down in the evening, without specifying by whom.

The new version is longer due to statements by Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof condemning a “act of anti-Semitic violence against Israelis, which defies description”, of the mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, evoking a «crime», and an Israeli supporter comparing these scenes with the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack committed by Hamas against Israel.

These modifications were interpreted by many pro-Palestinian activists as wanting to make the subject “more sympathetic towards the Israeli rioters at the origin of the violence”.