Fans of the Polish Raków Częstochowa soccer team threw rocks on Thursday night at a bus carrying fans of the Israeli Maccabi Haifa soccer team.
According to eyewitnesses and footage of the incident, the bus was heavily damaged as the fans were en route to the airport to return to Israel.
The Haifa fans angered many in Poland when, during a Conference League qualifying game in which Raków won, they waved a banner reading: "Murderers since 1939," in response to a banner waved by the Polish fans during the first game that read "Israel murders and the world is silent."
Polish president, Holocaust revisionist Karol Nawrocki, responded: "The scandalous banner displayed by Maccabi Haifa fans insults the memory of Polish citizens—victims of World War II, including 3 million Jews. Stupidity that no words can justify."
The President of the Polish Football Federation, Cezary Kulesza, threatened to lodge a complaint with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) on the matter.
UEFA itself took an anti-Israel stance this week when it placed a giant banner on the pitch before the Super Cup match between Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham in Udine, Italy, reading: “Stop killing children. Stop killing civilians.”
At the same time, the association prevented the family of Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski from holding signs at the Beitar Jerusalem vs. Riga match in Bucharest, calling for his release from captivity.
Braslavski, an Israeli citizen, was kidnapped by Hamas and has been held captive for over a year and ten months. The family’s signs, banned by UEFA, displayed Rom’s photo along with the messages: “I want my brother,” “Bring back Rom,” and another in English: “The voice of my brother’s blood is calling to me from the tunnels - Bring Rom and the rest of our hostages home.”
Amir Braslavski, Rom’s brother, who was present at the stadium, sharply condemned the decision. “Yesterday, UEFA displayed a huge banner calling to stop killing children and civilians, but today they prevent us from holding signs calling for Rom to come home. This is not just hypocrisy, it’s antisemitism.
"When it comes to a living, kidnapped Jew, they prefer to silence the message and look away. We demand that UEFA reverse this shameful decision and allow us to hold his flag and signs until he returns home alive and well,” Amir said.