Summary of complaint
We received complaints from people who feel our coverage of the violence and disorder in Amsterdam surrounding the Europa League match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax was biased in favour of the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, and didnβt present an accurate narrative as to what took place.
Our response
The unrest in Amsterdam, both before and after the Europa League match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax, was a complex story to cover as initially the full sequence of events wasnβt completely clear.Β We were careful to explain to our audience what we had verified, and when this hadnβt been possible.Β
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Verify did a piece examining what had taken place.Β We continued to follow developments and report on information as it came to light to unpick the details related to this story;Β this included a follow-up piece on the 12 page report published by the Amsterdam authorities after an investigation into the disorder:
As we said in our analysis, this was not an issue of football hooliganism between rival fans, but triggered by international tensions caused by the Israel-Gaza war.
We detailed the nature of the violence directed at the Israeli fans after the match, reflecting that this resonated across Western Europe, with, amongst others, the mayor of Amsterdam, Dutch prime minister and King of the Netherlands describing this as antisemitism.Β We also included statements from Amsterdamβs police chief, who spoke of incidents βon both sidesβ, and the Palestinian ministry of foreign affairs.Β
We reported on the actions of some of the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans the night before the match, including the tearing down and burning of a Palestinian flag;Β we also played footage of some of the teamβs fans chanting racist slogans, explaining that we had to cut the sound due to the offensive language used.
We believe our approach to this story was fair and duly impartial, scrutinising the details available to ensure we were providing our audience with accurate information.