Pro Palestinian crowds shrieking and yelling at the Aston Villa Park Stadium

Yes thank you Maremia. How thoughtful of you to ask.

Oreo

Tbh I think they won’t even stop as the peace deal progresses through the different stages and even as Gaza is being rebuilt.

Who for though? - ie the rebuilding.

Cue for watching a video today in gobsmacked astonishment of a group of settlers living there in "caravan" type accommodation very near that Gaza boundary and very confidently asserting they are the ones going to be living in Gaza once it's rebuilt and a 3,000 year old book promised that to them as well (according to them) and they showed no thought or concern whatsoever for the Palestinians living in Gaza - they just want them gone and they don't care how - and they'd probably describe themselves as "nice people". ....!!!

These people will never allow peace - not whilst there is one square foot of land occupied by the rightful owners (ie not them then).

Oreo

The noise from the pro Palestinians was deafening but thanks to a huge police presence just noise.
Think what two years of policing these events have cost our country! France was right to ban any costly and divisive marches there, we should have done the same.

So was their no noise from the pro Israel crowd? Odd if they were silent.

Sadly the marches have become a social event for some. Meet with their mates and do a bit is stirring at the same time.

Whitewavemark2

There were two lots of protesters.

Gaza supporters and Israeli supporters - in fact the Israeli supporters hired flat backed lorries to carry the banners etc.

All seemed peacefully protested. There is always someone who gets carried away though, but on the whole well policed and protested.

The decision to stop the Israeli football fans was a correct one.

I thought all football fans always shouted and enjoyed rowdiness.

TV footage only showed the pro Palestinians shouting, the noise was incredible, I felt sorry for the Police there.
Caleo they weren’t football fans making the noise they were locals who went there for the express reason to shout and wave Palestinian flags outside the Villa ground.They were angry that an Israeli team were playing a match there even tho the team had every right to be there.

I’m still tending to avoid the news on tv but am I right in thinking there was a lot of noise but no violence?

Locals aren't allowed to go about in their own town?

Not necessarily locals Oreo.

No Kate not necessarily but given that area it’s probable they were from Birmingham.The organisers were hoping for thousands to attend but that didn’t happen.

People supporting Palestine who were chanting and waving enormous Palestine flags.
Why is this allowed?
It had absolutely nothing to do with a football match.

eazybee

People supporting Palestine who were chanting and waving enormous Palestine flags.
Why is this allowed?
It had absolutely nothing to do with a football match.

Have I got this wrong then - ie there was no team from there playing?

Since they were there = yep....it has plenty to do with a football match.

Sport cannot be separated from the rest of life. Add in the fact that protest at sports events was part of what (had to) happen back when with regard to South African apartheid.

If we let that lot operate at their own evaluation of themselves (ie as normal people entitled to someone else's country) then what do you see as another way to make it plain to them "Clear off back to your own respective countries - and leave Palestine alone and stop stealing it section by section"?

Serious question - just how do we kick them out of Palestine? Can you think of better ways to "put them back in their box"?

You’re really confusing posters with your penchant for calling Israel ‘Palestine’ you know.
The professional team players from Tel Aviv don’t represent anything that Israel does, and there’s no boycott in the UK of anything from Israel in any case.
In my view politics should never affect sports.

There are usually several Arab Muslims on the team btw.

Going back to rebuilding Gaza. Palestinian architects have drawn up plans for how they want Gaza to be. There are several other plans which will hopefully be considered rather than Trump's plan.

Yes, who is getting which piece of Gaza?
The locals?

eazybee

People supporting Palestine who were chanting and waving enormous Palestine flags.
Why is this allowed?
It had absolutely nothing to do with a football match.

We all have a right to protest. Do you think we should all lose that right or only certain religions or ethnicities?

Oreo

There are usually several Arab Muslims on the team btw.

There's one, Sayed Abu Farkhi, who is Israeli.

www.transfermarkt.co.uk/maccabi-tel-aviv/kader/verein/119

Oreo

You’re really confusing posters with your penchant for calling Israel ‘Palestine’ you know.
The professional team players from Tel Aviv don’t represent anything that Israel does, and there’s no boycott in the UK of anything from Israel in any case.
In my view politics should never affect sports.

I assume you know the history of Maccabi Tel Aviv.

If people think there is conflation re Jews/Israelis, wasn’t the poster saying “No killers in football” conflating Israeli government with a football team?

And yet several posters seemed to think they were the same thing.
I’d quote those posts but my iPhone won’t do it.

So the Israeli footballers are killers because they are Israeli? Not Jewish but Israeli. So killers by nationality?

Oreo

Smileless2012

Thank you bmacca it's good to see a post from someone who was actually there especially with such an inflammatory thread title; shrieking and yelling .

Just true, not inflammatory.
Didn’t you hear the racket coming from the crowds waving Palestine flags around 6:30 onwards on tv?
Politics has no place in sport! The Tel Aviv players have nothing to do with either the Israeli government or their army.
Calling them ‘killers’ is both untrue and pathetic.

Oh please Oreo - come on!

- much as we dont like it, politics has been in sports for very very long time.

*Hitlers 1936 Summer Olympics*: they were used by the Nazi regime as a propaganda tool to showcase a "peaceful and tolerant" Germany while camouflaging its antisemitic and expansionist agenda.

To some extent, this was successful, propaganda wise: it gave British Facsists a boost for their anti semitism and anti-left views

But they were also marked by the American athlete Jesse Owens, a Black sprinter who won four gold medals, which contradicted Hitler's theories of Aryan racial superiority. (yes!)

Was it the protestors who were shouting that Lathyrus?

I've struggled to "unravel" some of this. I don't claim to have any special expertise.

I doubt if the Israeli football team wanted to do anything more than play football on Wednesday night. The team are not responsible for the behaviour of their fans or for the policies of the Israeli Government. Given that the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were not allowed to attend the match, what were the protests really about?

I have seen people (including Jewish people) being accused of anti-semitism just because they disagree with the Israeli Government or what the IDF have been doing in Gaza. This is another sort of conflation because of the inflammatory and polarising nature of any discussions about the war in Gaza.

There are plenty of Israelis who also disagree with their Government and the way the war in Gaza has been conducted and who sympathise with the plight of the Gazans who have been governed by a bunch of terrorists for so long and so many of whom have lost their homes. Does that make such Israelis anti-semitic too?

However, those who support the Palestinians and use the expression "From the River to the Sea", despite claims that the words mean something else, are widely regarded as anti-Israel. I have seen that these words are generally used by those supporting Hamas and others who wish to see the destruction of Israel once and for all. For all we know, the majority of Palestinians just want their own homeland as a separate country (i.e. a two-state solution) without the destruction of Israel.

I wonder what proportion of "pro-Palestinian" protesters want the destruction of Israel and a one-state solution.

I did see a banner saying "Kick Israel out of FIFA".
It is hard on the Maccabi team. Their fans have really not helped them at all by their behaviour.
As other football teams have no influence on their respective governments then I doubt Maccabi does either and some players may even be anti Netanyahu?
Feelings do run high where Israel is concerned and there will be protests wherever they go.

A large proportion I bet RamblingRose22

Wyllow3 What has Hitler got to do with the situation at Villa Park?
Politics shouldn’t intrude into sport, it’s all wrong.