Sky News has been caught in a storm over it’s deleting and then re-editing of a report on the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan’s rioting in Amsterdam. However, the original filmmaker who captured some of the footage it used has now come forward – and claims that it, and other media outlets, misrepresented it to shore up the narrative that the attacks were antisemitic.
Maccabi Tel Aviv/Sky News
On 8 November, media outlets and politicians decried “antisemitic attacks” on Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans, with some referring to the incident as a “pogrom”, and others comparing it to the events of pre-war Nazi Germany. These same outlets and politicians received criticism for leaving out significant context on what happened in the run up to the later violence – but at the time, this didn’t include Sky News:
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans:
– chanted "kill the arabs"
– chanted "there are no schools in Gaza, because all the children are dead"
– ripped down Palestinian flags
– disrupted the minute silence for the Valencia flood victims – with fireworks"Antisemitic attacks"?
Get a fucking grip. https://t.co/tJL5F6T6Wt pic.twitter.com/W5GXFDYjB7— jewdⒶs // ייִדהודה (@jewdas) November 8, 2024
While there is evidence of violence being directed towards the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, the narrative that this was a Nazi-style pogrom just doesn’t hold up, as we reported ourselves. Another outlet which game some semblance of balance was Sky News, but the initial report they produced was later deleted:
🧵🚨1/ This is nuts. After mysteriously deleting a package covering the Amsterdam protests, Sky News have put up a new version. The new version completely changes the thrust to emphasise that the violence was antisemitic. See the opening screenshot change below https://t.co/BAOj2nLQo0 pic.twitter.com/uto2Y7Driy
— Marc Owen Jones (@marcowenjones) November 9, 2024
Sky News: a tale of two videos
Marc Owen Jones is an associate professor and author of Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East. In a summary of an article he wrote for Mehdi Hasan’s Zeteo, he tweeted:
3/ They have also inserted into the video, right after the opening footage of Dutch Prime Minister condemning antisemitsm. This was not in the original video. pic.twitter.com/H57zN9NSXw
— Marc Owen Jones (@marcowenjones) November 9, 2024
The term ‘anti-Arab slogans’ has itself become controversial, with Reuters using the term in contrast to ‘anti-Israeli slurs’:
Arabs say slurs
Israelis say slogans.
The change in framing is insane. They think we’re stupid. pic.twitter.com/anmhSTZN2v
— ADAM (@AdameMedia) November 9, 2024
Jones continued:
5/ As if it couldn't get any worse – the original report ends with the reporter saying that while politicians had called it a pogrom, "their statements failed to mention the assaults by Israeli hooligans against Dutch citizens" . This bit was DELETED. I've included it below pic.twitter.com/2VFTDzGqCJ
— Marc Owen Jones (@marcowenjones) November 9, 2024
In his Zeteo article, Jones wrote:
So marginalized were stories attempting to explain violence from Maccabi Tel Aviv fans that one Amsterdam resident took to social media to call out the media bias. She described hiding in fear as Israeli supporters attacked her home for displaying a Palestinian flag, stating in Dutch, “I hardly see anything in the media about my experience – that letting loose agitated football hooligans with war traumas, from a country that commits genocide and engages in extreme dehumanization, in the city *regardless of whether there are counter-protests* is not a good idea.”
Sky News’s reason for re-editing the video to remove the above context? Apparently it didn’t meet their “standards for balance and impartiality”:
Editor’s Note: This is a re-edit of a previous video which didn’t meet Sky News’ standards for balance and impartiality.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 9, 2024
Jones captured both videos for those who want to see:
Another thing I noticed is that in the new edited video – the narrative changed from describing @iAnnetnl 's video (I think) as 'Maccabi hooligans' chasing people down a steeet, to 'a group of hooded men can be seen chasing'. Wow. https://t.co/JADMlWcZxo
— Marc Owen Jones (@marcowenjones) November 10, 2024
Novara Media’s Rivkah Brown, meanwhile, highlighted that Sky News editor Sandy Rashty has been retweeting messages which align with the ‘Nazi pogrom’ version of reality:
There is absolutely no mystery here: @SandyRashty is Sky News' News editor. Take a quick look at her feed. https://t.co/PCpJAH430M
— Rivkah Brown (@rivkahbrown) November 10, 2024
It gets worse somehow
A photographer with the Twitter handle iAnnet captured footage of the violence in Amsterdam:
Amsterdam – M. Telaviv. Supporters guided to Central Station by a huge police force #Ajax #Maccabi #TelAviv ©️iAnnet #ajamac pic.twitter.com/5uwVJvLBJ2
— iAnnet 🦋 (@iAnnetnl) November 7, 2024
Maccabi supporters just left Central Station in a big group and used big fireworks on Damrak. They now run into the center. #ajamac #Israël #ajax pic.twitter.com/khYH3EPYZo
— iAnnet 🦋 (@iAnnetnl) November 7, 2024
Annet noticed that many outlets were ignoring and even reversing the context she gave them, with a picture of a “Maccabi mob” chasing pedestrians presented as antisemitic violence:
Legitimate question:
What I explained to several media channels is that the Maccabi supporters deliberately started the riot in front of central station returning from the game. They came from two directions. Lit heavily fireworks at Damrak and gathered in front of the hotel.… https://t.co/nZckzq3Q1R
— iAnnet 🦋 (@iAnnetnl) November 9, 2024
Annet has been contacting outlets, questioning the use of her footage, and demanding retractions and apologies. She’s already had some success:
This morning, I received an apology from journalist Christian Feld (@ChrFeld) of @ARD_BaB
Tagesschau is the first news outlet to apologize for using my footage of the Maccabi supporters attacking Amsterdam citizens in a framed anti-semitism context and has removed my footage… pic.twitter.com/S9zSlvYRI6
— iAnnet 🦋 (@iAnnetnl) November 9, 2024
At the time of writing, she has yet to report receiving a satisfactory response from Sky News:
By the way: I have received a lot of questions about @Skynews and the two versions of one video they produced, concerning my footage.
I’m on it!
— iAnnet 🦋 (@iAnnetnl) November 10, 2024
Manufacturing consent
The West is responsible for funding and tolerating Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. As such, it suits the establishment to present a narrative that all Jewish people support Israel and that any attack against Israel or its people is an attack on Jewish people everywhere.
Western media’s handling of this latest story is a textbook example of how they will ignore, edit, and delete context that doesn’t support their preferred narrative. What’s not so textbook is we now get to see these edits being made in front of our very eyes – like those of Sky News.
Featured image via Sky News
