🧵🚨1/ This is nuts. After mysteriously deleting a package covering the Amsterdam protests, Sky News have put up a new version. The new version completely changes the thrust to emphasise that the violence was antisemitic. See the opening screenshot change below
2/Even the tweet accompanying the video has changed. It has explicitly shifted from mentioning anti-Arab slogans to removing the phrase "anti-Arab" and using antisemitism. It also removes mention of vandalism by Israeli fans. An extremely clear editorial shift!
3/ They have also inserted into the video, right after the opening footage of Dutch Prime Minister condemning antisemitsm. This was not in the original video.
4/In the new video they've also added an impact narrative /vox pops but ONLY from a maccabi fan - not an Amsterdam resident. In it he says the attacks reminded him of October 7th....Nothing from the "other side"
5/ As if it couldn't get any worse - the original report ends with the reporter saying that while politicians had called it a pogrom, "their statements failed to mention the assaults by Israeli hooligans against Dutch citizens" . This bit was DELETED. I've included it below
This was Sky News' justification. I should add that while the new video does include examples of Maccabi violence - the overall edit is blatantly designed to downplay anti-Arab violence (as i hope this thread has shown)
nb: Here are both videos for posterity
Here's my write up of what preceded this Sky News debacle in the media #Amsterdam
Update: The voiceover over @iAnnetnl 's footage was changed to anonymise Maccabi violence. It has changed from 'Maccabi hooligans chasing people down a street’, to 'a group of hooded men can be seen chasing people down a street'.
1/ If you break down the BBC's live reporting of what happened in Amsterdam, you can see the disproportionate attention it pays to Maccabi fans and Israelis as victims, with far less attention paid to the actions of Maccabi fans. Here are the sources interviewed.
2/ In terms of mentions of Arab, Dutch or other Ajax fans, there is very little emphasis on Arab safety, with the majority of coverage focused on Maccabi fans as victims. There are vox pops with fans, but very little interaction with non-Maccabi people.
3/ The language used to describe the attacks on the Maccabi fans is also much stronger, ranging from pogroms to brutal and shocking. Similar terms aren't use for the anti-Arab racism.
🚨1/ This New York Times piece is wild. Let's go through it.
Firstly, the lede is an emphasis that attacks in Amsterdam were based on antisemitism, yet it cites no evidence of this, but DOES cite evidence of anti-Arab chants.
2/ The claims of antisemitism are based primarily on the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, who tweeted that the attacks were antisemitic. Note - the Dutch Prime Minister didn't call out anti-Arab or anti-Palestinian racism from Maccabi fans.
3/ The piece links to an Amsterdam police statement to talk about the violence - although the police statement doesn't mention anything about antisemitism.
🧵 'At least 1,800 bots on the social media site X are promoting the controversial choice of Azerbaijan, a major oil and gas producer, to host next month’s ...#COP29, according to a new analysis shared exclusively with The Washington Post".
2/ The analysis by Marc Owen Jones, an expert on disinformation at @NUQatar, focused on roughly 2,800 X accounts that collectively sent around 10,800 tweets, retweets and replies about the conference between Oct. 17 and Oct. 24.
3/ Detection
73% of all accounts active in sample created in the space of 3 quarters in 2024.
Conservative estimates suggest 66% (1876) accounts in the sample are fake (bots) based on activity over the past week
🧵1/ There is a dis/misinfo campaign targeting Ariane Tabatabai, a deputy assistant secretary within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. On 22 Oct, Sky News Arabia said a Pentagon official told them that Tabatabai leaked information about Israel's planned attack on Iran.
2/ There is no evidence to substantiate this. Even the Pentagon have denied it. @jengriffinfnc from Fox News followed up with Tabatabai who, contrary to reports, was at work as usual. The Pentagon denied that the information reported by Sky News Arabia was true.
4/ Despite this, dozens of outlets have published this story, but the soul basis of their story is the Sky News Arabia report. Here's just a selection of those outlets - @dwnews @ynetnews @Jerusalem_Post @firstpost @IranIntl_En @News18India
🧵🚨(1/16) In Oct 2023, Billboard emerged across Lebanon with the slogan “Lebanon does not want war.” While seemingly neutral on the surface, the campaign was part of a multimillionaire dollar info op designed to frame Hezbollah as chief antagonists (as opposed Israel)
(2/16) The campaign was attributed to an anonymous "coalition of Lebanese youth and businessmen". The only name that could be connected, was one Gina Al Khazen, working out of the UAE (According to SharqAlAwsat). Some of the billboards bore the branding 'One Peace Global'
(3/16) But OPG was a front. The OPG Facebook page ran over 87 ads, pushing its 'peace' narrative. OPG claimed activities in Ukraine and Africa but lacked any substantial proof. The page even attempted to backdate its posts to make it look active in 2022 #Lebanon
🧵Kind of curious why it looks like @TRobinsonNewEra has done a video about Qatar that looks like it was produced by @visegrad24, but without a disclaimer? Did Visegrad produce it? If so why? It's not like them working together is a secret 👉
2/ On 6th of June and on 4th October 2024, Tommy Robinson posted on X this video specifically about Qatar. It has a degree of production value. It repeats generic tropes we've seen with pro-Israel and US right-wing narratives about Qatar.
3/ In the video Robinson is filming it on the South Bank of the Thames, across from Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. (I've run down here a fair bit). Notice his blue outfit and black t-shirt.