The top league soccer team TuS Makkabi from Berlin has temporarily suspended training and game operations. After the terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist Hamas, the league game against TSG Neustrelitz was canceled on Sunday.
President Alon Meyer of Makkabi Germany deeply regrets the decision following the events in Israel. “The fact that we can no longer maintain safe games and training operations for a Jewish club due to an escalation in the Middle East is an absolute defeat for all of us,” he said in an interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”.
Meyer, who is also president of Makkabi Frankfurt, reported that games and training operations would continue there after an assessment of the situation and increased security measures. In Berlin, however, everything has stopped, "massive measures have been taken there," explained Meyer.
Makkabi Berlin had already announced on its Facebook page on Saturday that all matches scheduled for Sunday in both basketball and football had been canceled.
Those responsible must be clearly named "so that we can finally implement the corresponding consequences and not just condemn them with words. We have to follow up with actions," Meyer continued in the interview. “That we don’t continue to support these organizations, institutions and clubs that have nothing better to do than celebrate these inhumanities with taxpayers’ money,” said Meyer.
TuS Makkabi captain Doron Bruck told the Tagesspiegel: "We are a multicultural team at Makkabi, the players come from 16 different nations. But because we are a Jewish club, we are always alarmed." Each player is aware of his role and also the possible attack surface he offers.
Makkabi Germany warned “strongly” of a renewed rise in “Israel-related anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews in Germany” in sports. “We therefore appeal to all clubs to be particularly vigilant, especially now, to sensitize their athletes and consistently report anti-Semitic incidents,” said the Jewish gymnastics and sports association in Germany. Anti-Semitism belongs neither on “our streets nor on our sports fields. Let us, as a sport, be a role model for peaceful coexistence in Germany,” it continued.
The club pointed out that German sports fields have repeatedly been the scene of anti-Semitic attacks in the past. For example, in 2021, Israeli flags were set on fire during a game between Maccabi Haifa and 1. FC Union Berlin. There were also massive anti-Semitic incidents this year on the sidelines of the A-youth game between Hertha 06 and TuS Makkabi Berlin.
Since the terrorist attack by the Islamist Hamas on Saturday, there have been at least 1,200 deaths on the Israeli side. The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli counterattacks in the Gaza Strip rose to at least 1,050 on Wednesday.
Sources: dpa, “Tagesspiegel”, “RBB”, “Deutschlandfunk”, “FAZ”
