European Jewish Association denounces anti-Semitism at PSG's last game
The European Jewish Association has denounced anti-Semitic expressions at Paris Saint-Germain's final Champions League match at the Parc des Princes in Paris following the display of a controversial banner by fans of the Parisian club.
PSG fans unfurled a huge banner with the slogan ‘Free Palestine’ before the Champions League match against Atletico Madrid. The banner included the letter ‘I’ for Palestine outlined as the State of Israel, but completely covered by the Palestinian ‘keffiyeh’, denying the existence of Israel, one of the most common forms of anti-Semitism in existence today, according to the European Jewish Association.
The president of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, whose organisation is strongly committed to fighting anti-Semitism, wrote to UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, urging him to impose a disciplinary sanction on the Paris club, and rebuked the UEFA spokesman, who said the banner was neither insulting nor provocative.
‘If someone unfurled a huge banner with Ukraine under a Russian flag, would that be insulting or provocative, Mr President? Or how about Slovenia under the Italian or Austrian flag? You know the answer,’ he said.
‘Denying Israel's right to exist, particularly in the midst of an ongoing war and after the biggest pogrom against Jews since World War II, is not only a gross insult to millions of Jewish and Israeli football fans around the world, it is openly anti-Semitic and hostile,’ said Menachem Margolin, who also added: ’UEFA must act today so that others are not emboldened to do the same. Jewish communities everywhere, but especially in Europe, already live under daily threats to their lives because of the hatred these banners espouse. The banner is not a call for liberation. It is a call for the eradication of Jews’.
UEFA said PSG will not face disciplinary proceedings, as it only bans political messages deemed insulting or provocative.
Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau criticised the display of the giant banner reading ‘Free Palestine’, saying it was ‘unacceptable’.
FCJE condemns anti-Semitic attacks in Amsterdam
The Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE) has strongly condemned the planned anti-Semitic attacks against Israeli football fans in Amsterdam.
The FCJE unreservedly condemns the criminal anti-Semitic attacks that took place in Amsterdam when organised groups ambushed Israeli fans after the match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax.
The absence of authorities allowed the groups to attack with impunity the Israelis, including women, who were stabbed, beaten, run over, some were thrown into the river and several are missing, as denounced by the FCJE.
It is intolerable that these attacks take place in Europe where freedoms and the law govern democracies. Europe cannot become the territory where extremists are at ease, as the Federation has warned.
The FCJE said that ‘it is unbearable that just 86 years after the Night of Broken Glass (9 November 1938), we are once again seeing persecution, aggression and attacks against Jews in the heart of Europe’.