October 16 – A rabbi who worked with the English Football Association for over a decade has resigned in protest at the body’s refusal to light up Wembley stadium’s arch in the colours of the Israeli flag during last Friday’s friendly with Australia and this Tuesday’s clash with Italy.
Rabbi Alex Goldberg, chair of the Football Association (FA) Faith in Football network – which encourages fans of different faiths to unite – said he was “profoundly disappointed” by the decision not to light up Wembley in blue and white following the deadly Hamas attack on Israel.
On Friday both England and Australia wore black armbands while a moment of silence was observed before kickoff.
But the decision not to go further saw the FA branded “spineless” by a Jewish supporters’ group while the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the largest Jewish communal organisation in the UK, condemned the “weak response”.
Rabbi Goldberg, who has children living in Israel, revealed his intention to step away in a letter to the FA’s CEO, Mark Bullingham, just before Friday’s game.
“I have a long history of working with a long association with the FA over 20 years creating programmes for schools, bringing faith communities into the football family and developing frameworks to advise county FA’s leagues and clubs on best practice,” he wrote.
“I have been proud of what we did under the FA banner. I want to formally break the link between our advisory group and the Football Association.
“We shall continue to service the football family through the Premier League and Football League Clubs that we currently support at an elite level and the grassroots game as Faith in Football.
“In doing so, I feel I can better express my profound disappointment in the FA’s decision not to have a specific tribute during the upcoming matches against Australia and Italy at Wembley Stadium to the victims of the worse single atrocity committed against Jewish targets since the Shoah (the Hebrew term for the Holocaust).”
“Your leadership decisions in these moments are crucial and will resonate far beyond the game.”
The FA’s decision was also criticised by Britain’s Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer who said she’d been left “extremely disappointed”.
“Words and actions matter. The government is clear: we stand with Israel,” she added.
Israel Football Association chief Moshe Zuares also added his condemnation.
“There are moments in history when the truth is one, sharp, clear. Such is the present time,” Zuares said.
“Those who are afraid to light up a stadium in memory of the murdered and for the sake of historical truth, for reasons that cannot be understood at all, and perhaps it is better not to even try, are in an even darker time than the one my country is currently in. When this happens by the FA of a nation that always knows how to be a moral lighthouse for the free world, it is (more) disappointing than ever.”
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