“Game Over ‘Israel’”: Report Says “Israeli” Football Weaponized to Glorify Gaza Genocide

By Staff, Agencies

A new report by the Hind Rajab Foundation [HRF] has accused “Israel” of weaponizing its football culture to glorify destruction in Gaza and humiliate Palestinians, calling for the entity’s suspension from all international sporting bodies.

The 24-page document, titled How "Israeli" Football Culture Became a Weapon of Genocide, argues that “sport and politics have fused in ways that expose the deep entanglement of football with the state’s project of settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing”.

“Football is supposed to be a game that unites people,” the report states. “In ‘Israel,’ it has become something darker — a stage for racism, militarism and propaganda”.

According to HRF, “Israeli” soldiers and football ultras have used the sport’s symbols to “humiliate Palestinians, glorify destruction and normalize genocide,” both within the “Israeli” entity and abroad.

The foundation identifies Beitar Jerusalem as the most extreme example of racism in “Israeli” football, noting that it is “the only major club never to have signed an Arab player, despite Arabs comprising roughly 20% of the population”. Its notorious ultras group, La Familia, is described as “infamous for fascist slogans and violent attacks”.

HRF documents repeated chants of “Death to Arabs,” assaults on Palestinian workers, and even a 2013 arson attack on Beitar’s offices after the team signed two Muslim players. Yet the report stresses that the problem extends well beyond Beitar.

“Maccabi ‘Tel Aviv’, ‘Israel’s’ most decorated club, has a vast mainstream following,” the foundation writes. “Its ultras have repeatedly chanted anti-Arab slogans and filled stadiums with displays glorifying soldiers”. Even Hapoel “Tel Aviv”, once considered a progressive club, “has not escaped militarization”, as fans have been seen unfurling banners celebrating troops fighting in Gaza.

The report also tracks the export of this toxic football culture to European cities. It highlights the November 2024 Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi “Tel Aviv”, where “hundreds of ‘Israeli’ fans flooded Amsterdam, harassing Arab residents, ripping down Palestinian flags, and chanting, ‘No children left in Gaza’”. HRF says its complaint to Dutch police was initially dismissed for “lost evidence” until video footage later resurfaced.

“Similar incidents have been documented in other European cities,” HRF adds, citing instances where Beitar Jerusalem fans brought racist chants to Paris and Brussels, while Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters clashed with pro-Palestinian demonstrators and mocked Gaza’s suffering.

The foundation also presents dozens of images showing “Israeli” soldiers posing with football flags and scarves in front of demolished homes, schools, and mosques. “Beitar Jerusalem banners are draped across destroyed living rooms; a Hapoel “Tel Aviv” flag is waved from a balcony overlooking the ruins of Khan Yunis; a Maccabi ‘Netanya’ soldier captions his photo, ‘Something about away days in Gaza. Netanya forever’”.

“What might appear to outsiders as casual fan behavior is, in fact, deliberate propaganda,” the report concludes. “It is designed to claim conquered territory, mock displaced families, and turn atrocities into a consumable spectacle for supporters”.

HRF stresses that this is “not the work of a few rogue soldiers or hooligans but a systemic pattern”. It points to a broad spectrum of “Israeli” clubs — from Beitar’s fascist La Familia, to Maccabi “Tel Aviv’s” mainstream ultras, Hapoel’s so-called ‘left-wing’ supporters, and even “Netanya” and Haifa — where both fans and soldiers use football to glorify violence and military conquest.

The report calls on the international community to impose a full sporting ban on “Israel”, declaring:

“‘Israel’ cannot continue to participate in international sport while football is weaponized in this way”.

HRF endorses the Game Over “Israel” campaign, which urges FIFA, UEFA, FIBA and all other federations to suspend “Israel” until the genocide in Gaza ends and accountability is enforced.

“Just as apartheid South Africa was banned,” the report concludes, “so too must ‘Israel’ face isolation. Football and genocide cannot coexist”.