The Israeli Soccer Fan BS Highlights the Dangers of Proposed Misinformation Laws

Albanese’s draconian misinformation legislation passed through the lower house of federal parliament last Thursday, and it was followed later that evening by the Amsterdam Israeli soccer fan fiasco that saw aggressive followers of Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv, provoking Netherland locals, only to then be framed as the victims of antisemitic pogroms in the capital city.

Maccabi Tel Aviv were in Amsterdam to play against Ajax football club as part of the UEFA Europa League. Maccabi fans had flown in to support their club, and prior to the match, hundreds of them were filmed chanting racist anti-Arab messaging, which was followed by unruly behaviour during the game that later spilt out onto the streets into violence.

These events grabbed a global audience, which was not solely due to the violence, but more so, was in respect to the dual nature of the reportage, as the mainstream media in Australia and elsewhere across the planet framed events to convey a scenario that involved antisemitic Dutch citizens roaming the streets to attack Israelis, when locals had rather been defending themselves.

This false narrative was further trumpeted by western politicians, while the true story was disseminated over social media platforms, like X. This consisted of various pieces of footage capturing events, and included a report by 14-year-old Dutch journalist Bender and later, over the weekend, a since deleted Sky News piece honestly depicting what had occurred reemerged online.

The reason why the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 passing on the same day as the western legacy media and political class lied in so blatantly to the public has a touch of the ominous is that federal Labor’s new laws will enable such official lies to continue in the public sphere, while the alternative truth will be supressed.

Israeli thugs go Amsterdam

In the wake of Thursday night’s events, Sky News journalist Alice Porter outlined that riots “in Amsterdam left at least five people injured and dozens… arrested”, as part of a clip titled, Israeli Football Fans Attacked in Amsterdam: What We Know, which the Murdoch media outlet had posted online but has since removed.

Porter explains that ahead of the match, Maccabi fans arrived in Amsterdam and were shown on social media removing Palestinian flags from the front of people’s homes. Other footage showed locals chasing Maccabi fans, while prior to the game large crowds of Maccabi fans were seen singing racist songs and chanting anti-Arab messaging, such as “Let the IDF win to fuck the Arabs”.

After refusing to respect a minute silence for Spanish flood victims, in response to that nation’s arms embargo against Israel, Maccabi fans spilled out onto the streets, and, according to Porter, started attacking locals, with Amsterdam police initially doing nothing to stop them, and then Palestinian supporters attacked the visitors, with 62 people being arrested in relation to the violence.

Bender followed the Israelis around Amsterdam. The teen captured the football fans applying masks, threatening people and arming themselves with metal poles. He also notes police driving by ignoring early unrest, prior to the riot police then being deployed to contain the Israeli fans, while the young Dutch journalist further documented locals gathering on the street to oppose the out-of-towners.

“Israeli hooligans provoked clashes with Dutch youth in Amsterdam on Thursday after they chanted racist anti-Arab slogans, tore down Palestinian flags and ignored a minute of silence for the Spanish flood victims,” Middle East Eye reported. This included attacking an Arab taxi driver and provocations against Arabs, while Dutch police hadn’t made any arrests relating to Israeli pre-match aggressions.

Manufacturing antisemitism

“Israeli far-right ultras are notorious for their racism and physical violence,” Porter further outlined, in an uncharacteristically honest report compared to what followed.

“Dutch, Israeli and British leaders denounced the attacks as antisemitic and even referred to it as a pogrom. But their statements failed to mention the assaults by the Israeli hooligans against Dutch citizens.”

However, the ABC reported that Pro-Palestinian protesters attack Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam on Saturday, as “groups of young men” had “scoured the Dutch capital looking for Israeli soccer fans”. The segment goes on to explain that locals had attacked and beaten Israelis before fleeing. And one Israeli is seen to remark, “Some of them wait with knifes to kill us – to stab us.”

The national broadcaster further conveyed that Israelis fled the city to wait for extra flights put on by the Israeli government, after the response to the aggressive provocations of the visitors, which each version of events is in agreeance upon.

The ABC report, however, does go on to show hundreds of Israelis letting off flares in a park, while chanting about Israeli forces and stating, “fuck the Arabs”, but this is bookended with Amsterdam’s mayor then insisting that this was no excuse for what followed. And in ending the report, the ABC then makes questionable allusions to the Holocaust.

Other Australian headlines included Violent Attacks on Israeli Football Fans, Israeli Soccer Fans Attacked by Mob in Amsterdam and Fears of antisemitic aggression in Australia after Israeli soccer fans attacked in Amsterdam.

The Australian political response to the events in Amsterdam that sparked the most public furore was the message posted on X by Australian foreign minister Penny Wong, as the Labor Senator commenced her message with the lines, “Violence in all its forms is unacceptable. The antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam overnight are abhorrent.”

Misinformation laws will supress truth

As for why the local media and major party politicians have been propagating the lies regarding Amsterdam in the face of such obvious proof against this version of events, journalist Peter Cronau wrote on X that it’s all about framing support for the Israeli victimhood narrative, which serves to bolster local support for its genocidal acts in Gaza, along with its attacks on Lebanon and Syria.

The Albanese government’s misinformation laws would empower the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to require digital platforms that it considers are propagating mis- or disinformation to take adequate steps to eradicate any of these “mistruths”. However, the final arbiter on what is the truth remains unclear.

If ACMA is concerned that a particular part of the industry, say social media, is propagating what’s been deemed as misinformation, it can direct bodies and associations involved in that sector to produce a code of conduct, and if industry players are found to continue to disseminate falsehoods in the face of that, then ACMA can produce its own set of standards that all must then adhere to.

The legislation also creates new offences that would see digital platforms fined over $3 million for breaching a code of code or over $8 million for ignoring a set of standards. And the real clincher is that the mis- and disinformation laws do not apply to government publications, the mainstream media nor education providers.

So, in the immediate aftermath of the misinformation bill passing the lower house, which is a development that has been lost in the smokescreen of Albanese’s determination to place a social media ban on children younger than 16, the Australian public has been gifted a clear example of how the future might look after the authorities obtain a firmer grip over our internet freedoms.

In the current context, the official government and legacy media propagation of the myth of the Israeli soccer fan victims, in amongst the yearlong broader framing of the Gaza genocide as some kind of act of Israeli self-defence, is easily dispelled by reports on social media.

But if the Misinformation Bill passes, then ACMA could soon be busily issuing orders to produce codes and follow standards to digital platforms that are featuring content that provides on-the-grounds truths that counter official false narratives that serve as the truth that politicians and their mainstream media echo chamber are busily propagating over their official channels.

Indeed, if misinformation laws do get off the ground, media authorities will be able to incrementally curate the truth by stifling content on social and alternative media channels, to the point where, just as in the time prior to the onset of the internet, the truth of what’s occurring across the planet can be confined to the misrepresentations that the powers that be would prefer us to all graze upon.