Italy Soccer Team Gets $30K Fine for Fascist Salutes at Israel Match
– The international soccer governing body FIFA slapped a more than $30,000 fine on Italy’s national soccer team for the anti-Semitic behavior of some of its fans at a match in Haifa.
FIFA fined the Italian team 30,000 Swiss Francs, or about $31,000, for the “improper and discriminatory” behavior of team Italy fans who gave the fascist salute during the playing of the national anthems ahead of the Italy-Israel match held in Haifa on Sept. 5.
“A fine is never good news, but I am very proud to have raised the case on our portal,” said a spokesman for the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, or UCEI, which had first brought attention to the incident on its news website, www.moked.it.
A FIFA committee later this month is set to issue recommendations on whether to allow Israeli teams to play in West Bank venues, following a complaint filed by the Palestinian Football Association, accusing its Israeli counterpart of violating FIFA rules by holding games without permission on the territory of another member group.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
