Shame on the FA for not illuminating Wembley in Israel’s colours

The Football Association (FA) has decided not to illuminate the Wembley Stadium’s famous arch in the colours of the Israel flag despite it doing so for many other causes. It seems they have bowed to pressure from those who may be offended by this action.

Many feel that sports should be free from politics, but the Football Associate has never shied away from this in the past. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the FA proudly illuminated Wembley football stadium’s famous archway with the colours of the Ukrainian flag. They didn’t mind if it offended British-Russians or those who support Putin, because they were standing with the victims of the war. Likewise, when French citizens were murdered by ISIS gunmen in France, Wembley lit up in red, white and blue to show solidarity for the victims. In fact, the French national anthem was played at the start of all Premier League games that week as a sign of solidarity with the victims. Again, they did not think against it because it would have offended ISIS supporters in Britain.

The FA has also spent more than a year promoting Black Lives Matter, an organisation that openly supports the Palestinian cause against Israel and which this week a number of their chapters gave open support not to the Palestinians, but to Hamas. One even posted an image of a Palestinian mascot paragliding into Israel, just as Hamas terrorists did when they landed at a music festival and murdered over 250 civilians in one location.

The FA’s long term support for BLM was sparked by the tragic death of George Floyd. Indeed, the name “Floyd” was projected onto Wembley stadium and every football match in the UK started with kneeling and the mention of “Black Lives Matter” by commentators so everybody knew what the message was.

So when 1,300 Israelis, most of whom are civilians, are murdered in cold blood at the hands of Hamas terrorists, an act which has been condemned by the UK government and even the Royal Family, it should be a no brainer for the FA to show solidarity with the victims and light the Wembley arch in the colours of Israel. The FA has refused because they don’t want to upset anyone.

Think about the optics of this. One man in America was killed and the Football Association spent over a year honouring his memory, not just at Wembley, but at every game that was played in England. However, when more than one thousand Jews are murdered in Israel, the Football Association refuses to honour them. Some in the Jewish community are rightly asking the question, does one man mean more to the FA than over 1,300 Jews?

All of the causes mentioned above are political, just as most issues are, so if the FA is attempting to stay out of politics, they should have done so by never illuminating the arch of Wembley with any message at all. Additionally, it is possible to honour the Israeli victims of Hamas terrorism without showing support for Israel’s war on Hamas. For example, the commentators could simply state that the flag is to remember all those Israelis who were murdered by Hamas terrorists. It’s that simple and should not offend anyone who has any moral decency.

Instead, Wembley and the FA have taken the side of neutrality, players for England and Australia will wear black armbands that will be neutral to show support for both sides. In doing this, they are equating the actions of the terrorist group Hamas, which purposely targets civilians with the actions of the Israeli military, which is trying to avoid killing civilians and only targets Hamas.

Just as the BBC has refused to call Hamas terrorists because it might upset Hamas supporters in the UK, we also believe that Wembley is caught in the same predicament. They don’t want to upset those who support the actions of the terrorist group. They don’t want to receive a backlash so they have wimped out of doing the right thing by making excuses and claiming to be neutral. As Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel stated, neutrality only ever helps the oppressor and never the victim.

You cannot kick racism out of football when you don’t acknowledge the worst antisemitic attack in recent memory. You cannot “stand for humanity”, as the FA claims it is doing, if you don’t stand up against evil. The FA has failed to honour the memories of those killed in Israel because it lacks the backbone to stand up to those who hate Israel and the Jewish people. Shame on the FA and Wembley for their cowardice.