Prefer Jewish News on Google
Dutch sports channel adds ‘antisemitic’ chants to crowd noise for football match
The network added a recording from a past game that featured the popular chant “Whoever doesn’t jump is a Jew.”
With professional sports taking place in empty stadiums because of the coronavirus pandemic, many TV stations are adding audience sounds when they broadcast games.
For a Dutch football game on Sunday, those sounds included antisemitic chants.
The gaffe happened Sunday in a FOX Sports Netherlands’ live broadcast of a match between the Amsterdam team Ajax and a rival from the city of Groningen. The network added a recording from a past game that featured the popular chant “Whoever doesn’t jump is a Jew.”
Supporters of rival teams sing the chant to taunt the players on Ajax, which many Dutchmen associated with Jews because of Amsterdam’s rich Jewish history. (“I have nothing against your people. When I say I hate Jews, I just mean supporters of Ajax,” one Dutch football fan told JTA in 2017.) In recent years, the chant has been heard also at several protest rallies with Islamist participants.
The network apologised for including the chant in its soundtrack for the game.
“Due to human error during the match, during the first halftime a certain chant was heard that should not have been played. The fragment was removed,” FOX News Netherlands wrote on Twitter. “We offer our sincere apologies and are looking into how this could have happened and how to make sure it does not recur.”
Keep community journalism free.
Jewish News is free for everyone. No paywall. No barriers. Just trusted journalism for anyone who wants to stay connected to Jewish life in Britain.
If you value that, please support us.
From as little as £5 a month, you can help keep our journalism free and accessible to all.
Every day, we report on the issues that matter to our community. We celebrate achievements, support charities, challenge antisemitism and ensure Jewish voices are heard more widely.
From as little as £5 a month, you can help us continue to:
- Report on the stories shaping Jewish life in the UK and beyond
- Bring our community together through shared stories, events and campaigns
- Celebrate the people, culture and moments that define our community
- Support organisations doing vital work across Jewish Britain
You can make a one-off donation or become a regular supporter. Every contribution helps keep our journalism free, independent and accessible to all.
If everyone who values Jewish News gave a small amount, it would make a real difference to our future.
