Mick Hartley

Not a very complicated picture: UEFA allows a massive banner accusing Jews of killing children to be part of the ceremony at a game featuring Tottenham, a club associated with Jews, and the next day bans a small sign in the crowd for Jewish captives. https://t.co/67wHaESjJw

— Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) August 16, 2025

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From the article:

The brother of an Israeli hostage was banned from bringing signs demanding his release into a Uefa match a day after it displayed a “Stop Killing Children – Stop Killing Civilians” banner before the Super Cup.

The incident occurred before Beitar Jerusalem played Riga in the qualifying round of the Conference League in Romania on Thursday night.

The signs calling for the release of Rom Braslavski, kidnapped during the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, are said to have displayed messages including: “Bring back Rom”; “I want my brother”; and “The voice of my brother’s blood is calling to me from the tunnels – Bring Rom and the rest of our hostages back home.”

It is unclear who would have blocked the banners, with the ongoing war in Gaza having forced Beitar to play Thursday’s home leg of their third-qualifying-round tie at Romanian club Petrolul Ploiesti’s Ilie Oana Stadium.

Braslavski’s brother, Amir, who travelled to the game, nevertheless called on Uefa to intervene over the “hypocrisy” of a decision made a day after the governing body displayed its own sign on the pitch when Tottenham played Paris St-Germain in Udine, Italy.

He was quoted in Israeli media saying: “We demand that Uefa reverse this shameful decision and allow us to hold his flag and signs until he returns home alive and well.”

A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) also said: “Rom Braslavski has been held captive by terrorists for nearly two years in conditions deliberately intended to prolong his suffering. To European football, Jewish lives don’t matter.”