I’ve been a supporter of the Palestinian cause since before some members of the North Curve Political Party were alive. As someone who fights the corner of this club 24/7/365 my “Celtic credentials” are impeccable and knowing where I’ve been on the political spectrum and what I’ve done in my time I know my politics are too.
Regular readers have often lamented the political commentary on here.
I have a feeling this one will draw more fire than most, because I’m essentially agreeing with the club. They made one critical mistake in saying that politics should be left at the door; that’s a stupid statement and whoever penned that made an arse of it.
What he or she should just have openly stated is that certain types of politics should be left at the door, and I would have had no problem with that whatsoever.
There are some types of political expression which are beyond the pale and which I would never want to see anywhere near Celtic.
Sadly, for our club, there is a hardcore of our supporters who are becoming ever more extreme, ever more hateful and ever more intolerant. Not all of them are in The Green Brigade and when I talk about that section of our support it is not necessarily The Green Brigade I have in mind. But that banner was The Green Brigade.
That banner crossed the line.
I have said before that the left doesn’t have the equivalent of a Trump, that those kinds of sentiments do not take root on the left. And they don’t. That banner, whatever you might think of it, was not from the political left whatever its authors might have intended. That was not an expression of support for Palestinians either.
No, in talking about “victory to the resistance” that banner appeared to celebrate Hamas and its attack on the civilian population of Israel and something like that has no place in our support or any support anywhere.
When I say that banner has no place on the left I mean just that.
A banner which could be perceived – and it’s not much of a stretch to do it – as cheering on Israeli deaths could just as easily have been flown by a support on the far fringes of the right.
It is an extremist view.
In expressing support for the “resistance” it goes way beyond merely showing solidarity with the people of Palestine.
In fact it does the complete opposite.
If you are cheering on Hamas today – almost incomprehensible in light of some of what they are doing – you’re doing so in the full knowledge that all their actions have accomplished is to bring retribution of the most severe sort down on the heads of the very people you are rooting for.
Because it is ordinary Palestinians who will pay the most appalling price for Hamas’s attack, an attack which did not target political infrastructure, which did not target military facilities or personnel but was focussed almost entirely on the murder of civilians … and we’re still supposed to be pissed off by that, we’re still supposed to be offended by it, we’re still supposed to be outraged.
How people who mourn for the Palestinians can support the murder of Israeli civilians in furtherance of that cause … it defies belief. It’s a grotesque contradiction.
One of the things this website is most critical of the club across the city for is its embrace of, and even celebration of, militarism. We are surrounded by it. But those who would condemn the poppy as a symbol of oppression and even murder have no business whatsoever putting up a banner which even seems to be in support of an oppressive organisation such as Hamas.
No wonder our former Israeli player, Nir Bitton, is appalled.
No wonder Liel Abada has held talks with the club.
You may question the wording of Bitton’s statement as you like, but he is fully entitled to his outrage at a banner which appears to offer sympathy to an organisation murdering Israelis indiscriminately and at the time of writing holding over 100 of them hostage.
I read comments during the weekend that these guys should remember who paid, and pays, their wages.
That’s a bullshit argument and I’m having none of it.
Bitton gave us years of outstanding service. He served in the Israeli army, and was proud to have done so and not once during his time here did he ever complain about Palestinian flags. Nor has Abada. Banners supporting people killing Israeli citizens … that’s where these guys and the club are fully entitled to say that enough is enough.
That banner glorified violence, and that’s a step across the big red line.
Anybody who doesn’t realise that needs to think on it again.
There is a difference between supporting the oppressed and cheering on people being killed.
Some of the songs emanating from some sections of our support – such as those mocking dead Ibrox players and kit-men – are loathsome degenerate filth. So is The SAM Song, which is not about commemorating the Irish War of Independence but about the celebration of war itself. Which is what I frequently scorn the other lot for.
No wonder our club is increasingly sick of this stuff, and between that and people openly trying to pick fights with the police, I worry that we’re heading for a major split.
Days like today almost convince me that one is not just inevitable but might be necessary. There are certain elements within our support who need to be weeded out and I can’t put it more bluntly than that.
As I write this, the events of the weekend continue to take a terrible toll.
The number of dead in Israel has almost reached 1000, most of them civilians, over 260 of them people murdererd whilst attending a concert. There is no justification whatsoever for that.
Nor is there any justification for the Israeli defence minister openly boasting about having all of Gaza “under siege” and denied food, water, fuel or medical supplies.
That’s an area of 2.5 million people; he’s talking about a war crime and if Israel follows through, they should be condemned for it by every civilised country and those responsible should, along with Putin, stand trial in some future time and place.
But they won’t be of course, and that’s part of the problem.
Many prominent journalists and politicians, some of them Israeli’s, have said much the same thing. It’s a tragedy, all of it, and none of it should be celebrated or cheered on or glorified.
Dr King said it best.
“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate…Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.”
That banner at the weekend was a disgrace, coming at a time when civilians were being murdered and the whatabouttery and asking where is is the club’s condemnation of Israel won’t cut it with me one bit; our club has taken no position here and doesn’t seek to. We’re a football club and we cannot be a club “open to all” if our posiiton is that if you’re an Israeli you have no place here.
Anyone who believes that is following the wrong team.
It is a section of our support, all on its own, which has chosen to take a side … and not a good one at that. Neither side in this conflict has clean hands, but Hamas just wants to kill Israelis and we can’t, as a club, be seen to support that either in statements or in silence. It’s a grotesque position to put those running Celtic in and I knew they would respond to it, I knew how they would respond to it, and I knew that I would support them when they did and I do so now without equivocation.
That banner did not simply support Palestinians, which no right thinking person would ever condemn.
It supported violence. It glorified war.
I’m not even going to pretend to be okay with that.
Some people have told me that The Green Brigade intended that banner to be at Parkhead at the weekend before they were aware of the Hamas attacks. I was aware of them at the game, and I’m pretty sure that others were. The very act of putting them up at that point crossed the very same line I’m talking about, and it doesn’t change a word that I’ve written. This is something that should never damned well have happened.
Can’t pretend to support any side in this. The Green Brigade need to shut up for once and show some compassion. The massacre of innocent people on both sides by both sides is absolutely appalling to see.
What Hamas done was undoubtably crimes against humanity, is totally appalling and deserves no support from the West and certainly from anyone in our support. Even those with sympathies for the disproportionate Israeli oppression over many years can’t support that.
What Netanayahu and IDF has done since then and will continue to do deserves no support from the West either, yet does. Shame on our governments. Indiscriminate civilian bombing, murderous civilian massacre, now including overtly promising to deny them water and consequentially starve them to death and riddle them with disease are crimes against humanity.
We should all prepare for and expect a massive increase of Putinite War Crime proportions in the coming days, weeks and months, possibly, probably with much much worse yet to come. OMG Green Brigade don’t do that again or Feck Off. HH
And yet they still wonder why they can’t get the whole Celtic end or access for euro tifos….
Really sensible, measured take that has helped me sort through my own thinking on the issue. Thanks James.
I don’t care if the banner was just “tone deaf” or was “planned weeks before.”
Events overtook things and we knew about the Hamas incursion long before kick off. Even if I were to believe that banner was just about peace and solidarity with the Palestinian people (which I don’t) it obviously should have been shelved once the news broke.
That it made its way into the ground and was displayed was callous and shameful from the GB. To add insult to injury they had yet more pyro. By flying that banner on the back of that news they are implicitly saying they’re OK with what Hamas did. Well, I’m not. We all know Netanyahu is a war monger, so the outcome was always going to be a net disaster for the Palestinian people. But even setting that aside… Kidnap? Murdering children at close quarters? Is that really something our fans want to try to justify? How can we condemn the Israeli state (not people) bombing Palestine and causing death if we support that?
Get the GB in the bin.
I like that we occasionally get an atmosphere because of them, but they’re showing a real resistance to learning and this will end badly for them.
Perfectly and sensible put. Absolutely agree.
https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2017/07/26/news/brendan-rodgers-leave-politics-out-of-celtic-park-1093014/
Another opinion on another matter from Brendan, a very sane man.
Kudos for sticking your head above the parapet. I’m Jewish, am a ticket holder and have a family member currently missing after the attacks. I criticised the banners on twitter and received dozens of abusive messages from fellow Celtic fans. I’ve supported Celtic since I was a boy because my dad said it was the “inclusive” team. It doesn’t feel inclusive right now. The club open to all I was taught about seems long gone. Thank you for reminding me the Green brigade isn’t Celtic
The Green Brigade are using our football club to propagate hatred of Jews (“God is great” and “Kill the Jews” is what the Hamas murderers reportedly shouted as they slaughtered unarmed teenagers at a Rave. Anti-Israel propaganda is a excuse for this.)
Any political group which seeks to exploit the name of the club and its social history to further its own ends is surely not welcome at Celtic Park. Left, right, centre, this religion or that, it’s all so much division that doesn’t bode well. Being an ‘inclusive’ club means being able to tolerate different opinions and experiences and to have, one or two days a week, unity in a footballing cause.
I agree 100 percent with you James. After this some within the GB should have a long hard look at themselves. They won’t of course and will come out with more bigoted statements. To glorify mass murder of civilians is appalling and it is maybe time the GB were dispersed. As a beside it doesn’t sit well with me either that our board is made up of mainly Tories.
If the GB had any moral fibre or code of honour, they’d have disbanded themselves when they lost their colours on a European trip a few years ago.
Bunch of little men hijacking Celtic because no one would care otherwise.
Their footballs equivalent of just stop oil.
Whole heartedly agree with everything you said.
Excellent article
My take on the Celtic FC postiion
This the beginning of the end of the End for the aptly named Green Brigade who use Food bank collections in Rain as their mantra for political survival
This has no place at our club we are a Scottish football sports club also were was security and stewards doing if need be search every entrant into our stadium if it takes one hour for entrance and you miss the game then so be it Dermott and board no more of this nonsense support the club support the team support the players support the manager get the GB out of our club now. End of they are not us we are the Glasgow Celtic HAIL! HAIL!.
Well said. I try not to be to political especially on things that I don’t know enough about, so I will keep this short. Suffer The Little Children.
Totally agree with you James our Club cannot be seen to agree with any signs that glorify violence on innocent people
Could not agree more , it’s time to get rid of the green brigade once and forever, plenty of people waiting for season tickets, their far more trouble to the decent fans and the club as a hole , they are a disgrace .??
A perfect summary.
Thank you James for articulating so well my thoughts exactly. I am an Israeli Celtic supporter cheering the hoops for over 25 years.
My issue with the banner on Saturday was not only with its content (victory to the resistance) but mainly with its timing. There are many shapes and forms of resistance. You can support some and be appalled by others. I would like to think that no right minded human being would support the ISIS type massacre seen on saturday. To hold the banner at that time indicates that members of the Green brigade are supportive of these atrocities. By doing so they were bringing shame on our wonderful football club.
Where does this leaves me as an Israeli Celtic supporter? Do I need to hide my identity going into home games in order to feel safe? How will the family and friends of Bernard Cowan feel? (He was a Jewish Glaswegian Celtic supporter who died in Israel on Saturday). Why does the club needs to hear from Liel Abada before releasing a statement? Isn’t that the correct thing to do regardless of the nationality of our players? Will other Israeli players think twice before signing to play for our club (we had many Israeli players throughout the last two decades, Jewish and Arab Israelis playing for the hoops Berkowvitch, Rami Gershon, Beram, Hatem, Nir and now Liel).
I did try in the past to engage in conversations with a couple of the Palestinian flag wavers at games. What struck me was the lack of understanding of the issues surrounding the Middle East conflict added to a lack of awareness of their lack of knowledge of some very basic facts. I can imagine that there are other Green brigade members more knowledgeable but what was obvious was the use of general slogans without learning basic facts.
I should add that I am not in anyway an Israeli government apologist. Myself, like many other Israelis have very little time for it’s policies. I have no issues with Palestinian flags or ‘ Free Palestine’ banners at games. In fact, in a way I probably support the cause of a free Palestine state more than many members of the Green brigade. Hopefully a future free thriving Palestinian state alongside Israel is not only the fair and only possible solution to the endless cycle of violence but will also contribute towards the well being and safety of my family and friends still living in Israel.
Anyway, this ended up being much longer comment than intended. I only wanted to thank you James for writing so clearly what’s been on my mind.
Can I make one observation which does not seek to undermine the argument for either side?
The Hamas invasion and aggression occurred on the morning of our match against Killie. The banner and sentiments must have been made prior to these events.
The GB made a bad decision in deciding to proceed with the banner after events started to unfold but they could not have been intending to celebrate the violence when they constructed the banner.
It does not excuse the offence but it reduces the amount of pre-meditation.
The massacre was deliberately timed for a Jewish holiday.
Brilliant piece James, those supporters who put that banner up don’t speak for the majority of the Celtic support. I thought it was a crass and moronic message to put up and it’s time to weed these people out of Celtic Park as you said in your piece. The club has continually asked them to stop bringing politics into our stadium as there’s other more suitable places to raise any legitimate concerns they may have but that sign wasn’t legitimate in any way.
I fully agree with every word James, let me tell you if our club had not issued a statement condemning the murder of innocent Israelis I would have been appalled and disgusted. I,m surprised Abada hasn’t downed tools, some of these clowns are just silly wee boys who would love to go back to the old days.
I think that most Celtic supporters, will have a ‘final straw that broke the camel’s back’ moment, in relation to the Green Brigade. My own personal moment, was the banners at the Linfield game. I have detested these narsasistic, nihilistic eejits ever since. Craig, I hope and pray that your family member is safe.
Hail Hail.
Thank you?
No bother. I’m sure the thoughts of all the Celtic family are with you and yours.