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Hundreds of Celtic Fans Wave Palestinian Flags at Match Against Israeli Team

posted on: Aug 18, 2016

Image from Reuters

BY: Nisreen Eadeh/Staff Writer

Hundreds of Glasgow Celtic soccer fans waved Palestinian flags at the Champions League play-off match against Israeli team, Hapoel Be’er Sheva. Whole sections of the stadium turned into a sea of Palestinian flags as the Scottish team won the match 5-2. Celtic will move on in the Champions League to compete against Europe’s top teams, despite facing punishment for the demonstration.

Before the start of the game on Wednesday, members of the group Palestine Alliance handed out Palestinian flags and leaflets about the Nakba and refugees to Celtic fans. The group fearlessly garnered support from the game’s attendees, willfully ignoring the ban on political expression in Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) games. Police outside the stadium advised fans against bringing the flags into the match, but no one was stopped from doing so, and fans agreed to face any consequences, such as arrest and club fines.

Today, Celtic is receiving a hefty fine from UEFA, making this the second time the club has paid the price for fans waving Palestinian flags. In 2014, fans waved Palestinian flags in a Celtic game against Iceland’s KR Reykjavik, which cost the football club more than $18,000 in fines.

For the UEFA, waving the Palestinian flag is considered a political demonstration because of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. Fans said this political ban should not be in place, nor should it stop them from showing their support for Palestinians. A week before the match against Israel, over 800 fans joined a Facebook group called “Fly the flag for Palestine, for Celtic, for Justice.” The group shares the message of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement, and encouraged members to express their opposition to Israel’s occupation.

Many Celtic fans are Scots and Irishmen who relate to Palestinians by comparing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to that of Northern Ireland, which was once occupied by Britain for 400 years. In academics, the occupations of Northern Ireland and Palestine are often equated and solidarity is expressed often between the two regions.

There is no word on whether UEFA will drop the ban on political expression in games anytime soon, but it’s safe to say that not too many people care about this rule. Photos from the match show hundreds of Celtic fans waving the Palestinian flag and using the space to show disapproval of Israeli policies.

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