Football and anti-Semitism: we’re off to a bad start

"Boycott Israel". A message projected onto the outside of Atalanta’s stadium in Bergamo, where the first official match of the new football season was scheduled to take place last night. An international fixture, for the Conference League qualifiers, between Atalanta and Hapoel Tel Aviv. The Serie A season is also set to kick off this weekend, and it is fair to say that, given this pro-Palestinian anti-Semitism disguised as criticism of Israel, we are off to a good start. In fact, we are picking up where last season left off – and not just in football.

Last autumn, Bologna was the scene of violent clashes instigated by social centres and pro-Palestinian groups ahead of the EuroLeague basketball match between Virtus Bologna and Maccabi Tel Aviv, not to mention the reckless calls – including from politicians – to ban a match between the Italian and Israeli national teams in Udine. At the recent World Cup, the backdrop of absurdly anti-Semitic comments on social media was appalling. For yesterday’s match in Bergamo – where around a hundred Israeli supporters had travelled to the city, greeted by a protest group chanting ‘Show Hapoel the red card – Zionism out of sport’ – the police, in addition to banning provocative Palestinian flags inside the stadium, implemented extensive security measures that should not be necessary in sport: complete with specialist personnel for public order management and counter-terrorism. Under an agreement between the prefecture and ENAC, even drone flights over the stadium had been banned. A climate of war, which does not bode well for the resumption of sporting leagues, but above all serves as a warning to everyone to remain vigilant so that anti-Semitism does not gain the upper hand.