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UEFA Launches Disciplinary Proceedings Against Maccabi Haifa After Fans Display Anti-Polish Banner
A banner held by Maccabi Haifa fans at a UEFA Conference League qualifying match against Raków Częstochowa on Aug. 14, 2025, in Debrecen, Hungary. Photo: Screenshot/X
Europe’s governing body of soccer UEFA announced on Friday the launch of disciplinary proceedings against Maccabi Haifa after fans of the Israeli team displayed an anti-Polish banner at a UEFA Conference League qualifying match against Poland’s Raków Częstochowa.
Maccabi Haifa is being charged with “transmitting a message not fit for (a) sports event” and “improper conduct.” Meanwhile, Raków Częstochowa is being charged with the lighting of fireworks and also displaying a message “not fit for [a] sports event.” The UEFA said its disciplinary bodies “will decide on the matter in due course.”
During Thursday’s match, which was played at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary, for security reasons, some fans of Maccabi Haifa in the stands held a large banner that said in English “Murderers since 1939,” seemingly referencing the Holocaust and the atrocities committed in Nazi-occupied Poland. Germany invaded Poland in 1939, and more than 3 million Polish Jews were subsequently killed during the Holocaust, as well as 3 million non-Jewish citizens.
A week earlier, during a match on Aug. 7 between Maccabi Haifa and Rakow Częstochowa in Czestochowa, Poland, fans of the latter team displayed a banner that said in Polish: “Israel Murders and the World Is Silent.”
Poland’s Sports Minister Jakub Rutnicki sent a letter to the UEFA requesting “the imposition of severe penalties” against Maccabi Haifa following Thursday’s incident, and Cezary Kulesza, the president of the Polish Football Association, called on UEFA to penalize the Israeli team because of the “scandalous banner and outrageous behavior.”
“There’s no consensus for provocations and falsifying history,” Kulesza said. Polish government spokesperson Adam Szłapka noted that Poland expects “a clear reaction from UEFA.”
The “scandalous” banner “insults the memory of Polish citizens – victims of World War Two, including 3 million Jews,” Polish President Karol Nawrocki wrote in a post on X. “Stupidity that no words can justify.”
Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski called the actions “a distortion of history” and the Israeli Embassy in Warsaw condemned the “disgusting behavior” displayed by Maccabi Haifa fans. “There is no place for such words and actions, from any side, neither at the stadium nor anywhere else. Never!” the embassy said in a post on X. “These shameful incidents do not reflect the spirit of the majority of Israeli fans.”
Poland’s Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said, “Anti-Polonism and the outrageous distortion of Polish history by Israeli hooligans require strong condemnation. There is no, and will never be, agreement to such shameful practices.”
Raków Częstochowa won Thursday’s match 2-0 and advanced to the playoff round of qualification for the 2025 UEFA Conference League. They will face Bulgaria’s Arda Kardzhali on Aug. 21.
Also on Thursday, the UEFA was criticized for preventing the family of Hamas hostage and Israeli teenager Rom Braslavski from displaying signs calling for his release at Beitar Jerusalem’s match against Riga in a Conference League qualifier in Bucharest, Romania. The banners featured Braslavski’s photo and the messages, “I am asking for my brother,” “Bring back Rom,” and “The voice of my brother’s blood is calling to me from the tunnels – Bring Rom and the rest of our hostages home,” according to Ynet.
The incident happened after UEFA invited two children from the Gaza Strip to participate in the medal ceremony at the UEFA Super Cup final in Udine, Italy, and had several refugee children display a banner that read: “Stop killing children – Stop killing civilians.”
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.