The "Stop Killing Children" banner at the Super Cup match between Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham stunned Israeli soccer officials with its brazen severity. As Israel Hayom reported earlier this month, the hostile influences from the soccer organization with Qatari connections, FIFA, have tainted UEFA, which also harbors Israel-haters.
"We were surprised by the banner's language. It was blatant. Typically the messages focus on love and peace with subtle hints about change, not an explicit call to end war or taking a political stance, and here it delivered a sharp message," a senior Israel Football Association source said.
Sports officials discussed how organizers brought children from all conflict zones except Israel, with the two prominent children at the event being Palestinians who grew up under Hamas rule. Nobody bothered informing any Israeli official about what would unfold, reflecting Israel's weakness and positions over the past two years concerning public diplomacy efforts.
"You must remember that Israel fails in public diplomacy on issues far more important than soccer, so obviously in sports we are also failing. Who can handle public diplomacy against UEFA, [IFA chief] Moshe Zoares? That's several levels beyond his capabilities. The state needs to address this, because the association lacks the tools," the same source added.
Security nightmare
For organizations like BDS, sports represent a crucial weapon in the war against Israel, particularly the soccer sector. An entire department, funded and organized, dispatches letters weekly to sports bodies worldwide with one demand: Expel Israel from the international arena, like South Africa during the apartheid era or contemporary Russia. This has been occurring for years with escalating intensity, and it's not the sole organization involved. Against this, naturally, there is no response. The IFA lacks the human and financial resources to counter such an assault.
Given this reality, it's remarkable that Israeli teams and the national squad continue playing in Europe at all, avoiding expulsion. This occurs largely through the efforts of association chairman, Zoares. "You must remember that Israel represents not just a public relations problem, but also an economic and security problem. Playing against Israeli teams or hosting them creates massive security headaches, and enormous expenses. Why would teams or national squads want to inflict this on themselves? It's not as if anyone has surplus money," the source added, highlighting the scarcity of training matches for the national team and international engagements for Israeli players.
Now circumstances are changing rapidly and for the worse. Everyone recognizes – in the Foreign Ministry, Public Diplomacy Ministry and IFA alike – that a Gaza operation means initiating the expulsion process for clubs from UEFA and Israel from FIFA. They will place us on "leave" for one or two years, during which soccer will be ostracized and suffer devastating economic damage. The IFA fears events will unfold swiftly, without a grace period or waiting for a ceasefire.
Without an anthem, without Star of David
It's crucial to note that rapid Israeli soccer expulsion would, naturally, create problems in other sports as well. While the Olympic Committee, for instance, doesn't expel athletes, as Russia wasn't expelled and its athletes compete under another flag, there's a possibility that judoka Shani Hershko will lead the judo team to Los Angeles under the Olympic Committee flag. We won't hear the Israeli anthem, and we won't see a Star of David unless the athletes wear one.
EuroLeague in crisis too?
The other immediate concern is EuroLeague basketball. Games won't occur in Israel this year either, but now this appears like a minor problem. The Gaza operation, with the anticipated images from there, could cause clubs, primarily the Spanish ones dominating European basketball, to refuse playing against Israeli teams even on Bulgarian or Serbian territory.
Basketball veteran and Maccabi Tel Aviv Chairman Shimon Mizrahi is already quite elderly, basketball executive Ofer Yanai isn't truly recognized in European basketball, and the struggle for Israeli basketball's European survival appears extremely challenging. The national team will also experience this impact in the European Championship at the end of the month.
