Netherlands: Who Is Most Responsible for Anti-Semitic Utterances in School?

NOS is a major news outlet in the Netherlands. One of their featured programs, Teletext, has drawn criticism for claiming that most anti-Semitic utterances and expressions in Dutch schools are coming from students "from a Western background". That has drawn a response from the conservative Dutch site, Dagelijkse Standaard, which draws in the subject of soccer hooligans who have directed insults at one of the country's top teams, Ajax of Amsterdam.

The term hooligans when used in Europe generally refers to soccer hooligans, young male fans who deliberately engage in rowdy behavior and violence at soccer matches. They have been most notorious in England, but apparently, the Netherlands has its own problems.

To shed further light on the issue of Ajax, I am cross-posting this article from 2017 in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz: I suggest that you read this first before proceeding to the below Dutch article from Dagelijkse Standaard, which is translated by Fousesquawk. If it all leaves you in a quandary, don't feel alone. There is much more research this non-soccer fan needs to do. My own impression is that even if you are directing tasteless insults at a soccer team and its supporters, the language used is definitely offensive and can rightly be interpreted as anti-Semitic even if Ajax's fans refer to themselves as "de Jooden"-The Jews). Gassing and ovens and soccer have nothing to do with each other.

Setting aside the issue of soccer, I see nothing wrong with an open discussion of just who is most responsible for anti-Semitism at this perilous time in history. That also includes the US.

 https://www.dagelijksestandaard.nl/binnenland/nos-teletekst-framed-er-weer-op-los-verdraait-hooliganisme-met-antisemitisme-zet-hiermee-mensen-op-een-dwaalspoor

NOS Teletext frames it again; conflates hooliganism with anti-Semitism and leads people astray

The NOS occasionally flies off half-cocked. Today that was the case when someone on NOS Teletext wrote that anti-Semitism in the schoolroom was mostly by youth from Western backgrounds. Anyone with common sense knows that this is not anti-Semitism, but rather more about hooliganism.

Tweet: Harm Beertema@harmbeertema

"What a filthy framing from NOS. In football, no matter how stupid, it is not about anti-Semitism but more about hooliganism against Ajax. White hooligans among students have no idea what a Jew is, (but) Muslim students know exactly. Their jew hatred is fed to them daily."

Tweet: Elise de Windt@EdWres

"It is mainly youth with a Western background who participate."

"The lies. The false lies."

Insert:NOS Teletext:

Anti-Semitism in class "persistent"

Among social science and history teachers in secondary schools, 42% witness anti-Semitisc utterances and trivialization of the Holocaust. That is an increase compared to 2013 when it was 35%. In 2004, it was 50%, reports the Anne Frank Institute after an investigation. The institute sees that anti-Semitism in the schools is "a persistent problem".

The PVV (Party for Freedom) Member of Parliament, Harm Beertema, pounced on this and wrote the following about it: "What a filthy framing from NOS. In football, no matter how stupid, it is not about anti-Semitism but more about hooliganism against Ajax. White hooligans among students have no idea what a Jew is, (but) Muslim students know exactly. Their jew hatred is fed to them daily."

The most bizarre is that NOS has it very well nuanced on its own website. On the NOS website, there is the following:"Anti-Semitic curses and screams in school, according to the teachers, come most often in relation with professional football (soccer). Among others, it has to do with the fact that the fans of Ajax (soccer team in Amsterdam) go by the nickname, "the Jews". Mostly, it is students with a Western background who are guilty of this type of insults directed at Jews."

Beertema's proposition is where the NOS does the framing. NOS knows very well that it is mostly Moroccan and Turks who make anti-Semitic statements in classrooms and (he) writes the following about it: "But the tensions in the Middle East also form an important breeding ground for anti-Semitisc utterances. It is Moroccan-Dutch or Turkish-Dutch students who are more often responsible for that sort of utterance."

The only question we can ask ourselves is NOS doing this out of stupidity or wickedness? Those at NOS know well that most Dutch people will not read further beyond the reportage on Teletext.

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Fousesquawk comment: Here is more on the Anne Frank Institute study from Algemeiner.