After Thursday night’s events in Amsterdam, many commentators were remarkably uninterested in the truth of what had happened. The clashes between Israeli football hooligans, Dutch fans, and local, often ethnic-minority men had turned into an international incident — and it was obvious enough what side most of our leaders would pick. The language of “anti-racism” was marshaled to tell us who was guilty and who was good.

Joe Biden described a wave of “antisemitic attacks . . . echo[ing] dark moments in history.” The Dutch king spoke of how his country had failed Jews “like during World War II,” no less. The word “pogrom” spread across Western media, with most outlets suppressing basic facts about the events.

Violence is bad and has no place in or around a football stadium. Luckily, no one actually got “abducted,” as was initially reported. Responding to provocation is often a terrible idea, and any instances of anyone being harassed because of their nationality or religion ought to be examined. Still, it is hard to remember a similar time when hooligans showed up looking for a fight and were treated as heroes. This is indeed what at least several hundred Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters did in Amsterdam.