“A group of youths”

A gay couple has been viciously attacked in Arnhem, Netherlands. I found this “news” article randomly on Yahoo.

AMSTERDAM (AP) — In a simple act of solidarity, same-sex couples and many others across the Netherlands have held hands this week to protest the beating of two gay men — an attack that shook a nation that has long prided itself on its tolerance.

The beating in the eastern city of Arnhem was far from isolated in the Netherlands, long seen as one of the world’s most welcoming to same-sex couples. The city’s mayor conducted the world’s first gay marriages in 2001.

But it has touched a raw nerve in this nation whose tolerance on other fronts has eroded in recent years with the rise of anti-Islam and anti-immigrant populism and a crackdown on the country’s famed liberal drug policies…

Police said the men told officers they were verbally abused by a group of youths because they were walking hand-in-hand over a bridge. In the confrontation that followed, both men were injured, and one had his front teeth smashed out.

“I find it really absurd, unbelievable, and this is feeling like we are going backwards,” said Sjag Kozak, an Israeli who married his husband in Amsterdam and has lived in the freewheeling Dutch capital for 21 years. “So that’s why we’re here: To make a statement to let people know that we are moving forward and not going backwards.”

“Group of youths.” As soon as I saw that, it was obvious that we’re not dealing with Dutch youths here, but Arab or African youths. Indeed, it didn’t take much effort to find this:

When they reached the Nelson Mandela Bridge they were confronted by a group of six to eight young men. “I think they were Moroccans. They began to shout: disgusting, dirty, homo, such things. We shouted something back and walked on, but all of a sudden they came after us.” Jasper said to RTL.

So, a couple of gay men, one of whom is Jewish (presumably), were attacked in Holland, at the Nelson Mandela Bridge – by a group of Arabs. And then the U.S. press (not just Yahoo, by the way) omits the fact that the attackers are Arabs. This is the bizarre reality we now live in. This why we voted for Trump, and this is why we hope Europe can get its act together before it’s too late.

In an interesting twist on journalism, Alex Bollinger, in the LGBTQ Nation, writes:

Jasper wrote on Facebook that the attackers were Moroccan, but he did not say how he knew.

I’ll venture a couple of guesses: They had accents. They didn’t look Native European. There are a lot of Moroccans in Netherlands, and they have a bad reputation. Alright, we can admit that they might be of some other North African persuasion.