The empty stadium illusion: Why banning Israeli fans is not enough

The stadium is empty, but Israel is still in the game.

Though any form of isolation of those responsible for genocide is welcome, the growing movement for a sports boycott of Israel has yet to translate solidarity into meaningful sporting isolation.

Two recent developments illustrate this contradiction.

The first is the decision by Alkmaar, a Dutch city north of Amsterdam, to bar visiting supporters of Israeli football club Hapoel Be’er Sheva from attending its 15th October Europa League match against AZ Alkmaar at the AFAS Stadium.

The decision followed the violence surrounding the November 2024 Ajax–Maccabi Tel Aviv match in Amsterdam, when Israeli supporters were filmed chanting racist slogans, tearing down Palestinian flags and confronting local residents.

Such behaviour is hardly unfamiliar among sections of Israeli football supporters, whose racist chants against Palestinians have included the notorious “Death to Arabs,” and “Burn down your village.”

During the November 2024 violence in Amsterdam, Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were also filmed chanting that there were “no children” left in Gaza.

These expressions of racism are increasingly encountering resistance from international audiences, many of whom no longer accept Israel’s carefully cultivated image of democracy, civilisation and moral exceptionalism. The genocide in Gaza has shattered those illusions.

But Israeli supporters are also confronting another reality: growing isolation and the realisation that their presence is increasingly unwelcome in sporting spaces they once took for granted. Rather than prompting introspection, such resentment is manifesting itself in further hostility, confrontation and racist abuse.

The second development came on 4th October, when Ireland’s UEFA Nations League fixture against Israel was relocated to Serbia and played behind closed doors.

The Football Association of Ireland cited operational and security concerns. But the writing is on the wall: the growing solidarity movement in Ireland has made clear its opposition to sporting engagement with a team representing a state responsible for the genocide in Gaza.

Combined with recurring demonstrations at international sporting events involving Israeli teams, Palestinian flags raised by supportive crowds and growing demands for Israel’s exclusion from international competitions, these developments suggest that sport is becoming an increasingly important arena of solidarity and boycott.

The question, however, remains: is any of this enough?

The answer may lie in the South African experience, where sporting solidarity eventually evolved into a comprehensive international boycott.

International campaigns to boycott apartheid South Africa began gaining momentum in the 1950s, gradually spreading across academic, activist and political circles.

The organised sports boycott began taking shape in earnest in 1959, with the establishment of the South African Sports Association, and soon became a defining feature of the broader boycott movement.

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The conventional wisdom has since been that white South African society only truly felt the weight of international isolation when the sports boycott took hold.

The argument is valid, but some important nuances must be understood. Years of intellectual and political groundwork were essential to expanding the activist base and building the networks that eventually made the sports boycott possible.

In other words, the groundwork preceding the sports boycott was indispensable. Without it, South Africa might never have been excluded from the 1964 Olympic Games and ultimately expelled from the Olympic movement in 1970.

One can confidently argue that Palestinians have already established the foundations necessary to make their boycott movement truly global, expanding, as it has, beyond academic circles into other popular arenas.

But South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement had an advantage that Palestinians have yet to secure.

In 1976, African countries boycotted the Montreal Olympics over New Zealand’s sporting relationship with apartheid South Africa.

This was followed, a year later, by the Gleneagles Agreement, through which Commonwealth governments committed themselves to discouraging sporting contacts with South Africa.

Over time, the boycott tightened its grip, leaving apartheid South Africa increasingly isolated from the international sporting community.

Considering that what is taking place in Palestine goes beyond apartheid into genocide, one can argue that the international sporting response remains far below the level of solidarity extended to those living under apartheid in South Africa.

Countries supporting Palestine have not declared a comparable collective boycott of sporting events involving Israel, nor have they barred countries supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Israeli teams continue to compete, facing the consequences of popular anger rather than coordinated action by governments and international sporting bodies to hold Israel accountable.

While pressure must continue to mount on FIFA, UEFA and the International Olympic Committee, among other sporting institutions, one must remain realistic: these powerful, profit-generating bodies are unlikely to make moral choices unless sustained pressure compels them to do so.

Individual athletes, however, have already demonstrated the moral courage that these institutions lack, often placing their convictions above personal gain, fame and even their careers.

Among them is Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine, who received a ten-year suspension after withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics rather than risk facing an Israeli opponent. Sudanese judoka Mohamed Abdalrasool also refused to compete against an Israeli opponent, withdrawing from his scheduled Olympic bout.

Equally deserving of recognition is Ireland’s goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, who refused to participate in the recent Nations League fixtures against Israel. “My decision is based purely on my personal belief that the killing of innocent people is wrong,” he declared.

But the truth remains: with or without spectators, as long as Israel is allowed to compete, the apartheid state will continue finding its way back into the international sporting community, without accountability and without even ending the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.