The World Jewish Congress is expressing concern about an anti-Semitic and racist outburst at a recent soccer game. The concern relates to a Europa League game between Italian team S.S. Lazio and the English the Tottenham Hotspur. The match took place Thursday night in Rome.
“The match was marred by anti-Semitic chanting, with Lazio fans chanting ‘Juden Tottenham, Juden Tottenham’ and unrolling a huge banner saying ‘Free Palestine’. Tottenham has a strong following from the Jewish community in North London,” a press release from the World Jewish Congress says, describing the cause for concern.
“Prior to the match ten Tottenham supporters were injured, one of them seriously. One suffered injuries to an artery and is in a serious condition. They were attacked outside a pub in Rome by dozens of masked men. It remains unclear if the attackers were fans of Lazio or another Rome football club.”
The Jewish group is pushing for action, should the anti-Semitism continue.
“It seems that all those expensive campaigns against racism that were run in recent years by UEFA, FIFA and others have not made a lasting impression, at least not on serial offenders such as certain supporters of Lazio.,” says Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress.
“The only way to overcome this ugly phenomenon is to threaten tough consequences for clubs who don’t take their obligation seriously to keep hatemongers and racist thugs out of stadiums. This problem of racist Lazio supporters is not new, and it ought to be taken more seriously by all people concerned. Imposing fines on the clubs whose fans misbehave in such a way is obviously completely ineffective.”
(Source : Weekly Standard)
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3 Responses
i was at a game for this team and we got the vibe that they were anti-semetic
started with the name s.s. lazzio followed by the fact that they have the hitler salute in a bunch of their songs added with the eagle logo it was not very pleasant
To world Jewish Congress, I was under the impression that the establishment of Zionism and the State Of Israel would end all hatred of Jews. Am I mistaken?
Jews are hated everywhere and in every arena. Politics, Finance, Sports, Techo and elsewhere.
#2 Dont think that was the Zionist dream, rather to have a homeland to run to when hatred of Jews goes wild.