The violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam has some Israelis concerned that it is not safe for their sports teams and fans to travel to matches abroad. Many Palestinians want them banned completely because of Israel’s warfare with Hamas.

The Israeli football teams play matches at home, despite the war between Israel and Hamas. But European football’s governing body UEFA has ruled that the war with Hamas means Israel cannot organize international matches.

Supporters of the Palestinian campaign to ban Israel from international competition have criticized world football body FIFA for not adhering to its 2022 decision to suspend Russian national teams from competitions, days after the invasion of Ukraine. UEFA also removed Russian teams.

Sports and war

Israeli teams played their home games in Hungary, Serbia and Cyprus. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has close ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has long promoted Hungary as the safest European country for Jews. He has banned Palestinian solidarity protests, arguing they pose a security threat.

The Israeli national team will play all its home games in the men’s Nations League this season at the Bozsik Arena in Budapest.

Maccabi Tel Aviv – the only Israeli men’s team to qualify for European club football competitions this season – will play its home games in Szombathely, Hungary, and Belgrade, Serbia.

Also a question about away games

Belgium refused to host a men’s Nations League match against Israel in September. That match was played in Hungary instead, with no fans in the stadium. Other away games have passed without incident, but the violence in Amsterdam could change things, and not just for football.

Israel’s National Security Council urged Israelis not to attend a match with the Maccabi basketball team in Bologna, Italy, on Friday to avoid “externalizing Israeli/Jewish identifiers as much as possible.” Italian police said security has been increased for the match, both for fans and the Maccabi team.

Even before the attacks in Amsterdam, UEFA announced that the next away match of the Maccabi football team in the Europa League, which was due to take place in Istanbul against Besiktas on November 28, would be moved to a neutral venue “following a decision by the Turkish authorities .”

The Israeli national team’s next away match in men’s football is Thursday in the Nations League, against France at the Stade de France outside Paris. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Friday the match would go ahead after police assured him they could keep fans safe.

Assaf Nachum, a spokesman for Israeli football club Beitar, said Israeli football fans “will have to see a lot of security and police action around the place where we are going to stay” in Paris.

“I imagine it will be more difficult to convince Israeli fans to come, especially since this happened in Amsterdam,” he said.

Threats, jeers and protests as Israelis compete with each other

Israeli athletes took part in the Paris Olympics under heavy security. There were no major security incidents, but some Israeli athletes said they received threats.

The Israeli team was greeted with cheers in stadiums during the country’s national anthem, and athletes arrived under a heavy police escort, including riot police vans.

Anti-Israel protests have taken place at sporting events across Europe this year, including at Maccabi Soccer’s away matches against teams Steaua Bucharest of Romania and Braga of Portugal. Both teams were each fined 10,000 euros ($10,800) on charges of conduct unfit for sport after fans waved Palestinian flags.

In September, a group of about 50 Italian fans dressed in black turned their backs in apparent protest during the Israeli national anthem before a Nations League match in Budapest.

In May, a Women’s European Championship qualifier between Scotland and Israel in Glasgow was postponed after a pro-Palestinian protester chained himself to the goal post. The protester reached the field even though the match was being played without spectators due to concerns about disruptive protests over the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

The Palestinians want to ban Israel from international football

Israel’s neighbors in the Middle East play in Asian leagues. Israel did so until the 1970s, when it was expelled from the Asian Football Federation after several Arab and Muslim countries refused to play against it. Israel was invited to the European qualification for the 1982 World Cup and has been a member of UEFA since 1994.

The Palestinian Football Federation has sent several requests to FIFA to suspend Israel from international football competitions. In its motion, the federation cited “violations of international law committed by the Israeli occupation in Palestine, especially in Gaza” and cited FIFA’s legal obligations in the areas of human rights and the fight against discrimination. It also said football infrastructure – including the landmark Al-Yarmuk stadium – has been destroyed or damaged. FIFA stopped short of suspending Israel in October but asked for a disciplinary investigation into possible discrimination by Israeli officials.

The Palestinian Football Federation has also consistently called on FIFA for more than a decade to take action against the Israel Football Association for including teams from West Bank settlements in its competitions.

Could Israel be banned like Russia?

Russia is a pariah in European football. The teams were banned by FIFA ahead of the 2022 World Cup play-offs due to the chaos that could result if opponents refused to play against Russia. FIFA said the consequences for the World Cup would be “irreparable and chaotic” if Russia were to advance to the tournament in Qatar.

No European federation has refused to play national or club teams from Israel, which has been a member of UEFA for 30 years.

The Israeli men’s team will participate in the draw for the European qualifying groups for the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in Zurich on December 13. The next World Cup will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Ukraine’s national and club teams have not played international matches on their home soil since the Russian military invasion in February 2022.

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Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Serbia, and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed.

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