As Britain’s Israel supporters fume over the news that Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans have been barred from attending a fixture against Aston Villa, 5Pillars takes a dive into the Israeli team’s history of racist, Islamophobic and thuggish behaviour from fans.
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC is one of Israel’s biggest clubs which plays in European competitions despite Israel’s geographical location in the Middle East.
Originally, Israel was a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), however, in the 1970s Arab and Muslim countries refused to play against Israel due to its occupation of Palestine and crimes against humanity.
As a result, Israel was effectively excluded from Asian competitions and later was allowed to join the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).
In recent years, Maccabi Tel Aviv have developed a reputation for thuggish behaviour and anti-Arab racism.
The negative image comes from viral chants and violent behaviour which has been witnessed on many occasions.
Countless viral online videos show Maccabi fans singing: “Let the IDF win, and f**k the Arabs,” “why is school out in Gaza? There are no children left there,” “f**k you, Palestine,” and “death to Arabs.”
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The reputation for hate and fears of violence on British shores sparked a petition calling for an upcoming fixture between Maccabi and English club Aston Villa to be banned. The petition, headed by independent British Muslim MP Ayoub Khan, achieved thousands of signatures.
Local police have flagged “public safety concerns outside the stadium bowl and the ability to deal with any potential protests on the night,” according to a statement from the club as reason why they decided to bar fans for the away side.
Responding to complaints of antisemitism from the media and Israel supporters, Ayoub Khan said: “We cannot conflate antisemitism when we look at what some of these fans did in Amsterdam in 2024. The vile chants of racism and hatred. The chants that ‘there are no schools in Gaza because there are no longer any children in Gaza.’ We are talking about violent fans.
“We must ensure that, it’s not just residents that are safe but fans and players and staff at the football stadium.”
Examples of violence and incitement
In March 2024, tension erupted among football fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv in Syntagma Square in downtown Athens when Israeli fans assaulted a man of Arab descent who was exiting the metro station.
The Israeli club’s supporters had gathered at Syntagma a few hours before their match against the Greek team Olympiakos in the Europa Conference League.
According to initial reports, the victim of the attack sustained minor injuries, sparking a commotion at the scene. He may have been carrying a Palestine flag at the time of the attack.
More recently in November 2024, Dutch police confirmed that five people were injured during a wave of violence that erupted in Amsterdam when supporters of the Israeli soccer club Maccabi Tel Aviv stormed through the city, tearing down Palestinian flags on private property and chanting incendiary, anti-Arab slogans.
Amsterdam police in a statement on X confirmed that 62 people had been arrested in connection with the vandalism in the city.
Local Muslims, many of Arab decent, ended up confronting the Maccabi supporters amid the vandalism and incitement by the Israelis. Several people were injured in the clashes.
Other examples of anti-Arab racism exist. In 2014, the club faced charges by the Israeli Football Association for harassment of an Arab-Israeli player who was labelled a terrorist in chants.
According to a study done by the Jewish Arab Centre for Peace, Maccabi Tel Aviv fans lead the charts of racist chanting with 118 racist chants recorded during a single season between 2024 – 2025.
The fixture against Aston Villa is due to take place at their home ground of Villa Park located in the Midlands city of Birmingham on November 6.
Birmingham boasts a sizeable Muslim community and is known as a stronghold for pro-Palestine activism in the UK.
The arrival of aggressive and thuggish Israeli fans to the area is seen by many as a dangerous and inflammatory situation which would likely lead to violence.
Tensions between Israel and Palestine supporters are incredibly high across the world at this time amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Although a ceasefire in Gaza went into effect on Friday, October 10, the death toll in the Gaza Strip has continued to rise, reaching 67,913, the majority of whom were women and children, since the beginning of the Israeli aggression in October 2023. At least 170,134 others have also been injured.
Medical sources stated that 44 bodies, including 38 that were recovered from under the rubble, and 29 injured individuals were brought to hospitals in Gaza during the past 24 hours.
This toll remains incomplete, as many victims remain trapped under rubble, inaccessible to ambulance and rescue crews.
In response, calls have grown for a compete ban on all Israeli sporting teams, including local clubs and the national football team to be banned from competing. Despite this, Israel’s political allies have worked tirelessly to protect Israel from such boycotts.
