Aston Villa F.C., an English soccer team that competes in the Premier League, has issued a statement condemning anti-Semitism after its Facebook Passover message was defaced with 27,000 “angry emojis” and a “torrent” of anti-Israel remarks.
According to the Jewish Chronicle, the Aston, Birmingham-based team posted a graphic with their logo, a blue Star of David and the phrase “Happy Passover” against a claret background, which is the club’s color. They posted the graphic under the heading, “Chag Pesach Sameach.”
The post was bombarded with anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist taunts. One person wrote, “Israel is the country of terrorism and killing children.” Another wrote, “This is the biggest evidence that the Sawiris family is supportive of the Zionist entity” referring to Nassef Sawiris, an Egyptian businessman who is the team’s co-owner and chairman.
Johnny Gould, a podcaster and director of the Aston Villa Supporters Trust, told the Jewish Chronicle that after seeing the anti-Semitic replies he immediately contacted Villa’s Chief Corporate Affairs officer, Paul Tyrrell.
“I’m Jewish and, unfortunately, I’m a Villa fan,” said Gould. “Aston Villa have signed up for the IHRA definition [of antisemitism], and by not reacting to the messages, they hadn’t honoured it. There was breach after breach after breach of the IHRA definition.”
Gould said Tyrrell replied quickly and promised to issue a response to the post.
Villa updated their post with a message stating, “The club deplores religious intolerance of any form and is an inclusive organisation who welcomes people of all faiths.”
Gould said he also asked the team to “reaffirm its commitment to the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. They did not do so.
Facebook has long been criticized for not doing enough to stop the spread of anti-Semitism on its platform.