International governing soccer body FIFA has fined the Scottish Football Association (SFA) after a group of Scotland supporters booed the Israeli national anthem at the start of a World Cup qualifying match in October, Skysports reported.
The FIFA report cited the untoward behavior by Scottish fans during the playing of Hatikvah, along with another incident of inappropriate behavior, in its delegate’s report, with the SFA receiving a fine of $10,800 by FIFA’s disciplinary committee.
The SFA was told it had violated the FIFA Disciplinary Code Article 16 that states: "Order and security at matches (disturbance during national anthems, use of objects - flag - to transmit a message that is not appropriate for a sports event)."
The incident comes at a time of increasing anti-Semitism in European soccer, as mounting incidents are being highlighted.
Italy’s premier soccer league recently announced that it was adopting the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism in response.
The announcement came shortly after revelations of a series of recent anti-Semitic incidents in European soccer, including a video taken in October at the stadium of Rome’s Lazio soccer team showing fans making fascist salutes.
Also in October, following an investigation into allegations that FC Union Berlin fans shouted anti-Semitic insults at fans of Maccabi Haifa during a Conference League soccer match in Berlin, the UEFA, the governing soccer authority in Europe, announced disciplinary measures.
Earlier in the month, South London team Millwall F.C. took down an anti-Semitic poster from a hooligan group calling themselves the “Millwall Berserkers.”
A month earlier, Jewish followers of the UK Watford Football Club launched a support group to fight anti-Semitism and connect Jewish soccer fans.