How Celtic's Green Brigade reignited sport's Israel-Palestine debate

The Herald Scotland

6 hours ago

This is the Green Brigade's latest political action in support of Palestine and against the 19-month bombardment of the Gaza Strip. It will prove to be their most impactful. The red cards held aloft in the East End of Glasgow are the launch of a global campaign which has so far led to over 200 sim-ilar actions by ultras groups across 37 countries and six continents.
The action may have seemed spontaneous but for the Green Brigade, this had been some time in the works and dates back to a trip to South Africa in 2024 that some of the members made with Lajee Celtic, a Palestinian football club established and supported by the group.
'Somebody in South Africa proposed that we do something to help give the existing Red Card Israel campaign a little bit more exposure,' a Green Brigade organiser told The Herald. 'It wasn't seen as the right timing for us to be doing it then. And then about a month prior to that game against Bayern Munich, we thought that things were sort of falling into place for it to not just be good timing for us to do it, but also good timing for groups of Ultras around the world to rally behind a united call.
'So we decided to do the action at the Bayern Munich match. As it was a Champions League game, we knew that any action at that match would reverberate around the world.'
It's perhaps poignant that the origins of this Red Card Israel campaign are in South Africa. It's in this country that global sports boycotts played such a pivotal role in isolating the Apartheid regime and eventually dismantling the system of racial segregation which had existed there for decades.
Susan Shalabi, vice-president of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) is quick to draw the compar-ison with the Palestinian issue.
'Sporting boycotts were important when they were taken against the apartheid system in South Africa and they are important now to highlight the crimes of the Israeli regime. It takes time but we believe all of these actions will prove important in the long run.'
At least 52,400 Palestinians have been killed and 118,014 wounded since the most recent Israeli assault began following the 7th October 2023 attacks. These numbers include nearly 400 footballers. One of the most notable of these being Mohammed Barakat, a striker who was nicknamed 'the Legend of Khan Younis' and was previously pictured in the green and white hoops of Celtic, just one symbol of the deep links between the people of Gaza and the Celtic support. Indeed, there was even a Khan Younis Celtic Supporters club founded in the Strip. That, along with the stadium where it was based, is now decimated.
While Celtic fans may be leading the case for Palestine in the stands, Shalabi is leading the legal case to have Israel excluded from FIFA.
In May last year, the PFA submitted the proposal to the governing body that the Israeli Football Association should face sanctions due to repeated violations of FIFA's statute, as well as the ongoing violations of human rights committed by the occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. The charge sheet is long, and includes the long-standing complaint that teams in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank are permitted to compete in the official Israeli football league.
'The Israeli Football Association has always functioned as a plastic surgeon for the ugliness of the occupation. It has always defended the occupation and tried to make it look better,' explained Shalabi from her office in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
'There are a lot of Israeli Football Association officials who are involved in incitement to genocide. For example, the current president of the Israeli Football Association recently went to visit an Israeli Air Force base . This same Air Force is of course responsible for the genocide in Gaza, for the indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza. And this guy, went in his capacity as the head of the Israeli Football Association, to support the acts of genocide that this military is doing against the people of Gaza. So whether we like it or not, that context of what's happening in Gaza is intermixed and intertwined with the football aspect.'
Of course for the Green Brigade's part, political expression at the football stadium is a core tenet of the group's identity. The Palestinian issue has been central to that, particularly since a 2016 tie against the Israeli team Hapoel Be'er Sheva. A Palestine display at that match led to a fine from UEFA and a subsequent campaign launched by the group raised over £176,000 which was used to set up the Lajee Celtic football team in Aida Refugee Camp in the West Bank.
The group did not receive a fine from UEFA for the Red Card display against Bayern Munich, perhaps signalling a shift in policy from the governing body. But it did lead to a further episode in the long-running, fraught relationship with the hierarchy of the club itself.
Although not directly specified, it was widely believed Celtic were referring to the banner in a statement released shortly after it, which read: 'Unfortunately, there have been instances in the past weeks…. with unauthorised banners, which had not been submitted for pre-approval in line with the protocol, displayed at Celtic Park.' The club has not allowed any 'tifo' displays in the stadium since.
Celtic fans unveil a banner which reads 'show Israel the red card' during the Champions League match between Celtic and Bayern Munich (Image: Craig Williamson - SNS Group)
Celtic know that the occupation of Palestine is an issue many fans – not just the Green Brigade – feel passionately about. But those in the Celtic boardroom have shown no desire to engage with the topic, despite how synonymous internationally it now is with the Celtic support. When the Palestinian management of Lajee Celtic visited Glasgow in December, the club ignored all requests to meet with them or offer any kind of welcome for them at the club. This is in stark contrast to how the club has engaged with other foreign supporters bases, such as the 'Thai Tims' who were welcomed on to the pitch at Celtic Park. Or how the club has taken a clear stance on showing support and solidarity with other victims of the conflict, such as those from Ukraine.
Read more:
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It is an awkward position for the club to hold. There is a sense that they are hesitant to make any signal which might suggest that the Green Brigade have had a point all along when it comes to Palestine. As for the ultras group, they believe there is a clear hypocrisy when it comes to what politics are seen as acceptable or not within the football stadia.
'When anybody, whether it be FIFA or Celtic, tells you that politics has no place in football, it's just bulls***. What they're telling you is that they will decide politics. The Russian example is the perfect demonstration of that. When the war in Ukraine broke out, Russia was removed from competition almost immediately and there were displays of support and solidarity for Ukraine across all of European football. This was a directive from UEFA. The contrast with Palestine is unbeliev-able and I think that could only be put down to racism.'
The Green Brigade's track record on the issue meant that they were uniquely positioned to lead when it came to the Red Card Israel campaign. Through networks developed over many years, they managed to spark action from groups across so many countries, including fans of teams at top-flight clubs like Sevilla, Corinthians, Empoli, Galatasaray, and even fellow Scottish Premiership rivals Hibernian.
By their very nature, football Ultras are tribal groups, often suspicious and hostile towards each other. For Martino Simcik, an expert on global fan culture and co-founder of football Ultras series Mentalita, a unique set of circumstances led to success of the Red Card campaign across Ultras groups worldwide – with the Green Brigade at the fore.
'The Green Brigade were always going to play a leading role in the campaign because the group has the most experience in discussing anti-imperial and anti-colonial experiences. It's like it's so directly tied to the identity of the Green Brigade in a way that it's not for other ultra groups.
'There's nothing really ever that's been able to bring supporters together like this. It's very rare that there's a campaign which concerns all of the different ultras. Like, how often do you find something that everyone finds a consensus on? A consensus that overrides existing rivalries? With Palestine, everyone is so aware of how Israel's violence is used, specifically targeting the reality of football. It's so clear that in the hypocrisy of like, what's allowed to be said and what's not allowed to be said, there's this huge elephant in the room' he told The Herald.
Of course, this campaign is not the first time that the Green Brigade have caused headlines. Indeed, there would be pages to fill in the Scottish press on a weekly basis if the group were to ever disband. But this time, the message went far beyond Scotland in a way that even the group itself didn't expect.
'I would say it's far more successful than we ever imagined,' the Green Brigade organiser told the Herald. ' I can remember sort of sitting in a room discussing this idea and we thought that just us doing our action would certainly grab headlines and get a lot of attention. We said at the time, even if we were able to get, say, 10 other similar actions happening across the world, then it's been worthwhile. But there's been over 200, some of them have been very big in football stadiums, which have been hosting thousands of people and then the TV audiences which means millions across the world see it.'
Among the millions to see the banners were the targets of the campaign – the Israeli Football Association.
'We encounter quite a few incidents of ignorance, self-righteousness, and abysmal hatred that ostensibly express protest. The facts and reality are well known to us and to many others, and no stupid sign will change them,' the IFA said in a statement.
But for Palestinians, the 'stupid signs' held up at Celtic Park seem to resonate far greater than anyone could imagine.
'I think all these campaigns tell the Palestinian people that they are not forgotten,' says Susan Shalabi. 'You know, even in Gaza where the people are being massacred, they know what Celtic is. Ask a Gazan child, and he will tell you what Celtic is. People are appreciative of what Celtic fans and the Green Brigade are doing for them because such actions give people hope that humanity didn't die out yet.'
As the bonds between Celtic fans and Palestine continue to grow ever deeper, the position of the club to ignore it and pretend the connection doesn't exist seems untenable.
In Palestinian football circles, the hope is to organise a friendly match between Celtic and the Palestinian National Team with proceeds going to support humanitarian efforts in Gaza. Shalabi says the offer will always be open.
'When Celtic are ready to play, then let's plan it. We would love to make it happen.'