Polish president slams Israeli soccer club’s ‘murders’ banner as ‘scandalous’
Polish President Karol Nawrocki has condemned the “stupidity” of fans from the Israeli football club Maccabi Haifa after they displayed a banner calling Poles “murderers since 1939” in a sports event.
The banner appeared during a European competition match between the Haifa club and the Polish team Raków Częstochowa on Thursday.
“The scandalous banner displayed by Maccabi Haifa fans insults the memory of Polish citizens – victims of World War II, including 3 million Jews,” Nawrocki wrote in a post published on social media platform X early on Friday.
“Stupidity that no words can justify,” the 42-year-old Polish leader stated.
The Polish Foreign Ministry in Warsaw said it “firmly condemns the behavior of certain supporters.”
It called on European football’s governing body, UEFA, “to respond appropriately to this incident.”
The ministry also said one of its officials met with the Israeli ambassador and “expressed his utmost indignation at the outrageous content of the banner.”
Poland’s interior minister also said that “scandalous distortion of Polish history by Israeli hooligans” requires strong condemnation.
“There is and never will be consent for such shameful practices,” Marcin Kierwinski wrote on X.
On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany launched an invasion of Poland – a date that numerous historians recognize as the beginning of World War II in Europe.
The banner displayed by Israeli football supporters was probably a reaction to a banner raised by Raków Częstochowa fans during their initial match against Maccabi Haifa on August 7.
The banner read: “Israel kills and the world is silent.”
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