‘Scandalous’ banner displayed by Maccabi Haifi soccer fans receives widespread condemnation from Polish officials

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Polish president Karol Nawrocki has denounced a “scandalous” banner displayed by a group of Israeli soccer fans at a UEFA Conference League qualifying match on Thursday.

Supporters of Israeli club Maccabi Haifa held a large banner reading “murderers since 1939” close to the front of the stands and across a row of seats during the match against Raków Częstochowa in Debrecen, Hungary – an apparent reference to the Holocaust and the crimes committed by Nazi Germany.

On Friday, European soccer governing body UEFA announced that disciplinary proceedings have been instigated against Maccabi Haifa for “transmitting a message not fit for (a) sports event.”

CNN Sports has contacted Maccabi Haifa for comment.

Germany invaded Poland in 1939, with more than three million Polish Jews and 1.9 million non-Jewish citizens killed during the Holocaust. Poland was the center of Ashkenazi Jewry before the Holocaust, but by the end of World War II, just 10% of the community remained.

Considerable research by historians has found that some Polish individuals and groups did collaborate with the Nazi occupiers.

“Individual Poles often helped in the identification, denunciation, and hunting down of Jews in hiding, often profiting from the associated blackmail, and actively participated in the plunder of Jewish property,” according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

However, recent Polish governments have sought to challenge that narrative of collaboration, and in 2018 passed a law making it illegal to accuse Poland of complicity in crimes committed by Nazi Germany, including the Holocaust.

Raków Częstochowa and Maccabi Haifa contest the first leg of their UEFA Conference League qualification tie in Poland. Michal Dubiel/IPA Sport/Shutterstock

“The scandalous banner displayed by fans of Maccabi Haifa insults the memory of Polish citizens – victims of World War Two, including 3 million Jews,” Nawrocki said in a post on X. “Stupidity that no words can justify.”

Meanwhile, Poland’s interior minister Marcin Kierwiński said on X that “anti-Polonism and the outrageous distortion of Polish history by Israeli hooligans require strong condemnation. There is no, and will never be, agreement to such shameful practices.”

The Israeli Embassy in Warsaw also criticized the banner, photos of which have been widely shared on social media, describing it as “disgusting behavior.”

“There is no place for such words and actions, from any side, neither at the stadium nor anywhere else. Never!” it said on X. “These shameful incidents do not reflect the spirit of the majority of Israeli fans.”

CNN Sports has contacted the Nagyerdei Stadion in Hungary, where the match was held, regarding any intervention, including taking down the banner or ejecting the fans responsible.

Cezary Kulesza, the president of the Polish Football Association, previously called on UEFA to take disciplinary action following the “scandalous banner and outrageous behavior,” adding in a post on X: “There’s no consensus for provocations and falsifying history.”

Raków Częstochowa won the match 2-0 to reach the playoff round of qualification for this year’s Conference League after overcoming a 1-0 deficit from the first leg. The club will now face Bulgarian side Arda Kardzhali on August 21.

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