Painful mission: Israel and Palestine return to the football fields

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Maccabi Haifa played on Thursday in the Europa League against Villarreal in Cyprus – more than 300 kilometers from home – and lost 2-1. Maccabi Tel Aviv took part in the Conference League in Lublin, eastern Poland, beating Sorja Luhansk of Ukraine 3-1. These were the first football matches between Israeli clubs since October 7, when Hamas carried out brutal terrorist attacks against Jews.

Israel could catch up with Nati

The Israeli national team also returns to the football fields. She is currently preparing for the matches in Pristina (Sunday, 8.45 pm) against Kosovo and for the ‘home match’ on November 15 against the Nati in Felcsut. The players dream of the European Championship final in 2024. They conspire in shared pain. With two wins, Israel would overtake Switzerland in the rankings and suddenly be on track for qualification.

Felcsut is located in central Hungary and is a village of 2,000 inhabitants where Prime Minister Viktor Orban grew up. Orban and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu have a close political relationship, which may have made the delicate search for a neutral alternative to this game easier and reduced security concerns.

“A little joy for people”

Given the deadly tragedy currently unfolding in the Middle East, people aren’t entirely sure if there’s any point in returning to football right now. Israeli defender Miguel Vitor said: “These are difficult times to think about football, but I hope we can help bring some joy to the country so that people start thinking about other things.”

Official matches are also scheduled for the Palestinian national team, which has now been able to move its base to Jordan thanks to the help of Prince Ali bin al-Hussein. Palestine will play Lebanon in Sharjah (UAE) on Thursday and Australia in Kuwait on November 21. They are both qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup. In the Gaza Strip, however, football is dead: football fields are being converted into mass graves because the cemeteries are full.

It is not yet clear whether all Palestinian national players will manage to leave the Gaza Strip in time and whether they are even mentally ready for football. But national coach Makram Daboub, a Tunisian, underlines the importance of these matches: “We want to achieve good results and qualify for the World Cup to present the Palestinian identity and show that this is a people who deserve life and love peace .”

Maccabi star sidelined

The example of Dia Saba, a thirty-year-old Israeli of Arab descent, shows how sensitive political statements are in these difficult times. He is the highest-paid footballer in the Israeli league, eleven-time national player and star of Maccabi Haifa, the club that unsuccessfully fought for the Champions League ticket against YB in the play-offs in August.

On October 17, Saba’s wife posted a message on Instagram asking for peace for Israelis and Palestinians. The fact that she also brought up the Palestinians did not go down well with those around the club; There were strong reactions and Saba, who immediately apologized, had to absorb the blow. In the meantime, his club has also responded and sidelined the player – at least temporarily. This is because they don’t want to upset their own fans. Saba was not in the selection against Villarreal in Larnaca on Thursday. It is unclear whether he will ever play for Maccabi Haifa again.

Saba of all people, who was recently celebrated as a bridge builder when he signed with Al Nasr in the United Arab Emirates in 2020. He was the first Israeli to reach a top competition in the Arabian Peninsula. The transfer was hailed as a ray of hope and the result of new insights into the Middle East.

The game lasted 280 minutes

Those responsible for the Israeli league are now considering resuming play at the end of November – without spectators in closed stadiums. An example from Ukraine shows what this could look like. Last Monday, the first division match between Dnipro-1 and Oleksandrija started at 5 p.m. It ended 1-0 for the home team and lasted 280 minutes.

The city of Dnipro has been the target of air strikes since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. There were also several rocket alarms during the match on Monday and the players had to repeatedly get to safety before the match finally ended shortly before 10 p.m.

Football has been playing again in Ukraine for about thirteen months, at least in the stadiums that have not yet been bombed. War and games: in this horror, the battered people must be offered at least some distraction and hope for “normality”.

Source : Blick