Dutch Fox sports channel adds anti-Semitic chants to soundtrack of soccer match

Network apologizes after playing recording from past game that featured popular chant: ‘Whoever doesn’t jump is a Jew’

By Cnaan Liphshiz 5 October 2020, 8:39 pm

Edit

Cnaan Liphshiz was a Jewish World reporter at The Times of Israel

Bart van Hintum of Groningen, Lassina Traore of Ajax, Gorkem Can of Groningen in the Dutch Eredivisie match between FC Groningen and Ajax in the Hitachi Capital Mobility stadium on October 4, 2020, in Groningen. (ANP Sport via Getty Images via JTA)

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands (JTA) — 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 soccer game on Sunday, those sounds included anti-Semitic 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.

One Dutch soccer fan told JTA in 2017: “I have nothing against your people. When I say I hate Jews, I just mean supporters of Ajax.”

In recent years, the chant has been heard at several protest rallies with Islamist participants.

The network apologized 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.”