(JTA) — Fans were ejected from a prestigious South American soccer tournament for accusing Israel of genocide as their team, a century-old Chilean soccer squad founded by Palestinian immigrants, qualified for the tournament’s main group stage.
Club Deportivo Palestino, whose name means “Palestinian Sports Club,” competes in Chile’s highest tier of professional soccer and wears uniforms featuring the colors of the Palestinian flag — red, green, white and black. The uniform’s socks feature a map the team refers to as “the historical map of Palestine” that does not make any distinction between Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
Palestino defeated the Paraguayan Club Nacional in the final, two-part qualifying round of the Copa Libertadores, the most prestigious club-level soccer tournament in South America. They won 2-0 on March 5 and 3-1 (on penalty kicks) on March 12, advancing to the group stage of the tournament for the first time since 2019.
During the March 5 matchup, Palestino fans chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will win,” and held posters displaying the message “Stop the genocide” in Spanish. Some of the fans were removed from the stadium by local police.
The tournament winner earns a spot in the 2024 FIFA Intercontinental Cup, which includes the continental champions from each of FIFA’s six confederations.
The Palestino club was founded in Santiago in 1920 by Palestinian immigrants to Chile, which is home to the largest population of Palestinians outside the Middle East. Some reports estimate that the Chilean Palestinian community is as large as 500,000 people. Chile officially recognized Palestine as an independent state in 2011; it had recognized Israel in 1949.
The club had been fined in 2014 for using the map in the place of a No. 1 on the back of players’ jerseys. Chile’s soccer association, which levied the fine, said at the time that it opposed “any form of political, religious, sexual, ethnic, social or racial discrimination.”
Maximiliano Grass, the then-director of the Chile-Israel Council, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that year that the map “provides further proof that the ideology of the leaders of the Palestinian community of Chile is very extremist, and it is based on the denial of all connection of the Jewish people with the land of Israel.”
Chilean officials have criticized Israel following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7. Chile recalled its ambassador from Israel in November. In January, the mayor of a Chilean city faced backlash for saying being Jewish is a “supremacist conception.”
The Copa Libertadores began in February, featuring 47 teams from 10 countries, including from soccer powerhouses Brazil and Argentina. The group stage begins April 2, and the tournament runs through the championship in Buenos Aires Nov. 30.
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