UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, already notorious for her vitriolic criticism of Israel, defended the perpetrators of the antisemitic pogrom that occurred in Amsterdam on Thursday night and called on the media to "set the record straight" and lay the blame for the violence on the Jewish and Israeli victims of the pogrom.
Albanese approvingly quoted a post on X that called the reports of the pogrom a "lie." The post stated, "World leaders all clamoured to follow the egregious lie of a pogrom peddled by a regime that’s committing a genocide."
Albanese wrote in response, "In the West, Israel and Israelis can never be in the wrong."
She then appeared to peddle the false theory that the pogrom was the direct result of actions taken by a small group of Israeli soccer fans, writing, "In Palestine Israeli officials, soldiers and settlers commit crimes against, blame, and smear Palestinians; elsewhere they may provoke, incite, and vandalise and still get a free pass for every act of violence they commit or hide. Still, it is 'other' communities into which they come who are blamed, smeared and arrested."
"The Amsterdam Police has set the record straight. The media needs to follow suit," Albanese demanded. "To do otherwise is to dangerously gut antisemitism of any meaning, distort the facts, deresponsabilize Israel and Israelis and deny any possibility of accountability."
It is unclear what she meant when she claimed that the police had "set the record straight." Much of the Arab violence towards the Israelis was filmed by the Arabs themselves.
Hundreds of fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team reported that they were attacked overnight Thursday by Arabs in Amsterdam, as they left the stadium following Maccabi’s game against AFC Ajax.
The fans testified that an ambush had been prepared for them in advance at various points outside the stadium. Dozens of people were injured. Attackers beat, kicked, ran over with vehicles, and threw victims into canals. Hotels where Israelis and Jews were believed to be staying were also attacked..
In one case, a victim screamed "I'm not Jewish" as he was beaten. In another, a man ran up to an elderly woman from behind and kicked her in the back, knocking her to the ground.
An Israeli who witnessed the goings on told Kan 11 News, "They waited in groups at every corner, and as soon as they recognized Jews - they started chasing them. Others waited near hotels and near the casino in larger groups, and there they also attacked fans. Then others drove by with cars and did not stop honking near hotels in which Israelis are staying."
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof on Friday condemned the violence against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam as a "terrible antisemitic attack".
"It's a terrible antisemitic attack. We will not tolerate (it). We will prosecute the perpetrators. And I'm deeply ashamed that this could happen in the Netherlands in 2024," Schoof told reporters on the sidelines of an EU leaders' meeting in Budapest.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema also condemned the attack and described the violence as “an eruption of antisemitism that we had hoped never again to see in Amsterdam.”
A propaganda campaign has been waged to blame the Israeli fans for the violence based on accusations that a small number of the Israeli fans provoked the pro-Palestinian activists by tearing down a Palestinian flag and making bigoted statements. Despite this attempt to shift the blame, evidence has been uncovered showing that the pogrom was pre-planned before the alleged provocations, including messages on the Telegram platform organizing the "Jew Hunt," as it was dubbed.
Albanese’s anti-Israel bias was first exposed in 2022, in the form of antisemitic posts she made on social media, in which she claimed that the “Jewish lobby” controls the US.
At the time, Albanese rejected arguments that the comments about the “Jewish lobby” were antisemitic and claimed they were “mischaracterized”.
Since the Hamas massacre on October 7, she has condemned Israel for defending itself and gone as far as to claim that Israel has no right to defend itself.
Later, Albanese denied that the Hamas massacre in southern Israel on October 7 was antisemitic.