These days, it’s rare for a major Israeli organisation to take a stand against racism.

Yet, that is what the Israeli Football Association (IFA) did this week when it approved stricter penalties for racist offenses committed by individual fans, crowds, or teams.

Granted, the association had little choice 18 months after world soccer body FIFA, issued a directive obligating national associations to implement specific rules, sanctions, and procedures to combat racism.

The association waited until almost the last minute to align its codes with FIFA’s anti-racism standards by the world soccer body’s December 31 deadline for all FIFA members.

The IFA said its stricter penalties would take effect in February.

In the meantime, Israeli police this weekend seemed more concerned about left-wing fans of Hapoel Tel Aviv entering stadia wearing T-shirts with anti-law enforcement rather than racist slogans.

Videos posted on X show a police officer asking fans to lift their sweaters and coats before entering the stadium. Another video shows an officer confiscating one fan’s shirt.

 

Last week, police prevented fans from attending a game wearing a shirt featuring the crossed-out symbols of the police, rival group Maccabi Tel Aviv, and assassinated far-right Rabbi Meir Kahane’s movement with the writing “Ultras Hapoel Against the Scum.”

The timing of the Israeli association’s measures is significant.

With a history of slapping clubs and fans on the wrist for expressions of racism, the Israeli association adopted its stricter measures in an environment in which anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim racist and genocidal expressions by government officials, prominent media figures, and soccer fans have become accepted public discourse in the wake of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

 

The measures are likely to reinforce FIFA’s sidelining of calls by several national football associations, including the Palestine Football Federation, high-profile footballers and athletes, activists, and United Nations-appointed experts, to suspend the Israeli association’s membership because it allows teams from illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank to compete in Israeli leagues in violation of international law.

Kick It Out Israel, a civil society group funded by the Givat Haviva Center for a Shared Society, reported in October that racist chants had surged by 67 per cent in Israeli soccer stadiums in the 2024-25 season.

Of the 367 incidents recorded, 118 were observed in stands hosting supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv.