For more than a year, English footballers took the knee in solidarity with a petty criminal who was murdered by a cop in Minneapolis. Yet after the racist slaughter of more than a thousand Israelis, the worst act of anti-Semitic violence since the Holocaust, England’s Football Association can’t even be bothered to light up the Wembley arch in Israel’s colours.
It is reported that the FA is ‘unlikely’ to light the arch with the Israeli flag. It is worried about being seen to ‘take sides’. It also fears ‘a backlash from some communities’. So it’s taking the knee again. This time to the feelings of certain members of minority groups who hate Israel. Apparently their emotions, their bigoted sensitivities, their right never to see the Star of David, matter more than the memory of a thousand massacred Jews.
What about Britain’s Jews, some of whom will be going to Wembley tomorrow?
This is surely one of the most snivelling, cowardly decisions a public body has ever made.
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in