Euro Championship Lifts Israeli Hearts Despite National Team’s Absence, War in Gaza

TEL AVIV — The beaches that outline the eastern edge of Tel Aviv are packed with tourists and locals, young and old enjoying the sweltering heat of a Saturday afternoon whether lying on the glistening sand, surfing the Mediterranean Sea, or playing a game of volleyball.As the sun begins to set, a gigantic video screen attracts the attention of those invested in the UEFA European Football Championship, the prestigious tournament operated by the Union of the European Football Association. Cheers, groans, and applause spontaneously erupt from the action being witnessed.Israel is not among the 24 teams competing in the tournament held every four years since 1960 except for 2020 when it was postponed one year due to the Covid pandemic. Yet that hasn’t stopped the country from following the competition on televisions and video screens.UEFA Euro 2024 comes at a time when Israel remains at war with Hamas, now in its eighth month. The conflict is not lost on anyone with family and friends actively involved. The European Championship offers a reprieve of sorts from the tension and stress of the war if only for a few hours.“There’s a huge passion for it,” the founder of Sportsrabbi.com and frequent contributor to the Jerusalem Post, Joshua Halickman, told the Sun. “I guarantee there are thousands and thousands of people who are in Germany right now. The Israelis love these big tournaments and if they’re accessible they flock to these things in huge numbers. It’s massive.”Sports continues to be a positive distraction from the real events in the north and the south. Much of Tel Aviv celebrated Monday night after Maccabi Tel Aviv captured its 57th Israel League Championship by defeating rival Hapoel Tel Aviv, 82-74, in the final game of a best-of-three series. It remains a heated rivalry that ignited built-up tension.As reported by Sports Rabbi, the championship game was delayed by 30 minutes as Hapoel Tel Aviv fans “battled with police outside of Yad Eliyahu and continued inside the facility causing the contest to be halted several times in the second half.”Being crowned Champions of Israel culminated a challenging season for Maccabi Tel Aviv, who relocated to Serbia to play its “home” games after the October 7 attacks.“The war was very difficult,” guard Wade Baldwin told Sports Rabbi. “You’re only seeing your family two times a week. Some guys on the team didn’t get to see their families all year, some of their people are back home, and some were staying in Serbia. It was a tough year for everyone individually. But the ultimate goal was to win basketball games and that’s what we did this year. We won a lot of basketball games.”Now, Euro 2024 is taking center stage. The competition began with the group stage on June 14 and culminates in the final on July 14 at the Olympic Stadium at Berlin. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout round of 16 along with the top four third-place teams. Germany and Spain each won the tournament three times, while France and Italy have won twice. Italy defeated England in the 2021 Final.Israel failed to qualify for one of the 23 available spots in the 2024 tournament with Germany, the host country getting a bye. Knocked out this year by Iceland, Israel remains a football mad country even in the midst of a war. Bars and restaurants will be packed this weekend as hundreds watch the contests.“Normally there would be even bigger watch parties and things on the beach,” Mr. Halickman said. “But it’s a little subdued because of the whole situation surrounding the war.”An active member of the Israeli Army who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons described his country’s passion for football this way. “Israelis love football because we have slowly integrated it in our society,” he told the Sun. “The Israeli culture is influenced by European and Southern American culture. Our back garden for traveling for vacation is Europe, and we all know Europe is the capital of football. Also after military service a lot of Israelis tend to travel for a while to the most affordable and furthest place possible. That is how we found football in South America.”Soccer will become more personal when the Summer Olympics at Paris arrive and Israel competes in the global event for the first time since the 1976 Summer Games at Montreal. The Israeli Olympic team is made up of an under-23 group with up to three players allowed to be older. Many of the players participated in the 2023 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Argentina winning a bronze medal and the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Georgia-Romania where Israel reached the semifinals before losing to eventual champion England. Those accomplishments were unthinkable a decade ago.“It’s a young team,” Mr. Halickman said. “Do they have a chance of winning a [Olympic] medal? Maybe.”Simply being in the Olympics signifies how far Israel has come in developing a competitive football team. The process began in earnest once Israel was accepted into the UEFA in 1994 and allowed to participate in the UEFA Champions League. It matched them against France, England, Spain, Italy, and Germany. Since then, practice facilities improved and foreign experts in training, nutrition, and technology are more plentiful, all leading to the development of young players who are now reaching their prime.“That’s why you’re seeing the ability to field teams that can make a difference,” Mr. Halickman said. “Within the next two or three years, you’ll see these young guys who are going to be in the Olympics moving up to the next level. There’s a lot of young talent out there.”Sports can be a welcome distraction during this time of war, especially a sport in which Israel is transforming into a respected competitor from a spectator. “All these things are great to keep people’s minds off of reality,” Mr. Halickman said. “It’s a difficult time for the country. The fact the Euros are going on right now, people are enjoying that. Next month is the Olympics. Sports brings people together not pushes them away. That’s an important message we want to have as a country going forward.”

Euro Championship Lifts Israeli Hearts Despite National Team’s Absence, War in Gaza

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