Violence erupts at Israeli Premier League match over national anthem

Arab fans attacked by Israeli counterparts with long sticks after they turned their back as the anthem played

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Israel’s national anthem has turned a football game in the Israeli Premier League into chaos amid violent clashes between supporters of the two competing teams. 

Fans of Bnei Sakhnin, a team supported by Israel’s Arab minority, turned their backs as the anthem was played Sunday evening. Angry supporters of Hapoel Be’er Sheva reacted by storming onto the pitch to fight the Arab fans, Haaretz newspaper reported.

Footage showed the fans of Hapoel Be’er Sheva holding long sticks and running to attack their visiting counterparts. 

The violence forced the players and referees to take shelter off the pitch. At least 12 fans from Hapoel Be’er Sheva were arrested.

As the violence was brought under control, the football game was scheduled to start again but Bnei Sakhnin refused to return to the pitch, with the club accusing Hapoel Be'er Sheva fans of “shouting racist calls” and entering the field “with the intent to attack.”

The Israeli Football Association cancelled the game over the violence.

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“The game will not be held today and the matter will be brought before the court for a decision,” it said in a statement.

Arab Israelis are Palestinians who continued to live in what became Israel in 1948. They make up around one-fifth of the country’s population.

Tension has grown in the Palestinian territories and Israel over a brutal offensive launched by Tel Aviv on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Nearly 40,800 people, mostly women and children, have since been killed and over 94,200 others injured, according to local health authorities.

An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.