UEFA Banner Sparks Israeli Anger: “Where Were You on October 7”
At the UEFA Super Cup in Udine, a giant sign reading “Stop killing children. Stop killing civilians” ignites outrage in Israeli football circles, accused of ignoring Hamas atrocities
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UEFA’s display of a massive banner reading “Stop killing children. Stop killing civilians” before the 2025 Super Cup match between Paris Saint Germain and Tottenham has drawn sharp criticism from Israeli football officials. The protest, staged on the pitch in Udine, was accompanied by 12-year-old Tala, a Palestinian child receiving medical treatment in Milan, and 9-year-old Mohammed, who lost his parents and was severely injured in Gaza.
Israeli football figures called the gesture “hypocritical,” accusing UEFA of taking sides by ignoring the October 7 massacre and the murder and rape of Israeli children. “Where were you on October 7?” one official demanded. The criticism comes amid heightened tensions over the role of politics in sport, as some European media outlets suggested the timing was not coincidental, days after Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah publicly challenged UEFA over the death of Gaza’s “Pelé.”
In the Arab world, questions arose over why the word “Gaza” was absent from the banner, though multiple outlets asserted the message was clearly about the conflict there. UEFA later confirmed the children’s backgrounds and announced partnerships with international NGOs to provide humanitarian aid for Gaza’s children, reinforcing what it called a “clear and strong message.”