The impact of the war in the Middle East on sport is increasing. A few days after the temporary cancellation of all football games on Israeli soil – including the qualifying game for the 2024 European Championship between Israel and Switzerland planned in Tel Aviv – another Israeli game was postponed on Thursday: the game between Kosovo and Israel planned for Sunday in Pristina.
UEFA has now announced November 15th as the catch-up date for the game between Israel and Switzerland. Given the foreseeable escalation of the conflict, it was more than questionable on Thursday whether, when and where the postponed games could take place. The Jerusalem Post newspaper said on Thursday that the chances of the Switzerland game being played in Tel Aviv were “close to zero”. In past decades, Israel’s football team had resorted to pitches in Cyprus or Greece in conflict situations. It remains to be seen whether this will be possible this time. In UEFA circles it was pointed out that Israeli athletes are currently prohibited by the government from leaving the country until further notice.
As of Thursday, there were no official statements from the planet’s major football associations on the situation in the Middle East. But, or at least, a letter from the President of the European Football Union Uefa, Aleksander Ceferin, which was addressed to Shino Moshe Zuares, the chairman of the Israeli association. In it, Ceferin spoke of the “deep dismay” of the European football family in view of “the tragic acts of violence” this week. He prays that “the deep wounds will heal” and that “a world” will emerge “in which such senseless acts of violence have no place.”
Israeli Bayern goalkeeper Daniel Peretz condemns the actions of the Hamas militia on Instagram
Israel has been part of UEFA since the 1990s. The country left the Asian association in the 1970s because of open hostilities. In the current qualifying round for the European Football Championship, Israel had a realistic chance of taking part in the European Championship for the first time in its history after eleven points from six games in Group I. The European Championships will take place in Germany next year.
There, Makkabi Germany renewed its warning to Jewish associations in Germany to be “particularly vigilant” and to consistently report anti-Semitic incidents. On Thursday, he denied that the TuS Makkabi Berlin club had stopped training and playing because of serious anti-Semitic threats: both continued under increased security precautions, it said in a press release.
Meanwhile, a few top athletes have expressed their solidarity with Israel, including former boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. He loaded his private plane with supplies for the Israeli troops. FC Bayern’s Israeli goalkeeper Daniel Peretz condemned Saturday’s “brutal and murderous terrorist attacks” and “the monstrous atrocities” of the Palestinian Hamas militia on Instagram. FC Bayern had previously declared on a social network that there was “no justification for the killing and brutal violence against the civilian population.” “We worry about our friends in Israel and hope for peaceful coexistence for all people” in the Middle East. The English association announced on Thursday that it would play with mourning in Friday’s friendly against Australia.
In Scotland, the traditional club Celtic Glasgow is currently facing an ordeal. The club’s radical left-wing ultras expressed their solidarity with Palestine in the league game against Kilmarnock after the devastating Hamas attack on Saturday, which left hundreds of people dead. Posters and Palestinian flags were held up in the stands. Celtic’s club management immediately distanced itself. At a time when so many people are enduring loss and suffering, it is “completely inappropriate for a group of people to use Celtic Park as a vehicle for such messages,” the club said.
