Barnet Football Club have cancelled a planned matchday fund-raising appeal for Amnesty International following a backlash from fans over their hostile stance towards Israel.
The National League club – who have a sizable Jewish fanbase – had announced that representatives of Amnesty would be in and around The Hive stadium for the home game against Maidenhead with buckets to collect donations.
The club announced the initiative by the charity was for a project “bringing people together and creating more welcoming communities.”
But after publicising the move on their website the club were inundated with complaints from angry fans who accused them of scoring an “own goal” with the initiative.
In an updated statement on Saturday the club confirmed they had shelved the project due to the “large number of comments made towards the collection” and fears it would create an “unsafe environment” if it went ahead.
Barnet FC statement
After learning of the planning bucket collection for Amnesty’s “Football Welcomes” initiative one angry fan, Jim Kavanagh wrote on X:”While I have sympathy with what’s going on in Palestine, Amnesty’s view is so enormously one-sided that this will be a huge insult to Jewish Barnet fans (of which there are many). Please cancel this.”
Another poster on X, Joshua Jake, wrote:”56k Jews live in Barnet according to the latest census. I can’t imagine how disgusted they must feel by this decision.”
While another X user named Gershon said:”Before your game Barnet FC Hamas are due to release 4 hostages, over 90 still captive.
“Amnesty have spent 16 months ignoring them and spouting Hamas propaganda.”
The initiative is believed had been approved by officials at the club who were not aware of Amnesty’s track record of publishing scathing reports on Israel, including a most recent one which accused Israel of committing “genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza war.
Israel denied the claims, and Amnesty were accused of investing their own definition of genocide. Amnesty’s Israel branch has also clashed with allegations stemming from its London office about the conflict.
Amnesty Israel said that although the death and destruction in Gaza had reached “catastrophic proportions,” its own analysis did not find that Israel’s actions met the definition of genocide.
Jewish News had previously revealed how an Amnesty International UK staff member employed as the organisation’s Racial Justice Lead labelled Jews as “shady people” in an incendiary Facebook conversation.
Amnesty said they had investigated the matter and had accepted the staff member’s apology.
In 2023 the charity caused outrage by signing an open letter this week urging the United Nations not to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
Lord John Mann, the government’s antisemitism adviser, accused Amnesty of “undermining the purpose of their existence.”
In a statement confirming they had shelved the initiative Barnet FC said:”As many will be aware, Barnet Football Club agreed to hold a bucket collection for the Football Welcomes programme on behalf of Amnesty International.
“Supporters of Barnet FC will know that as a Club, we support charities but do not take political positions on any matters and our endeavours are always with the very best intentions. As a football club, we always maintain an impartial view when it comes to helping others. In this case, a football related initiative in its eighth year of operation.
“However and given the large number of comments made towards this collection, we feel that we will be inadvertently creating an unsafe environment at our game against Maidenhead United which is very much against our matchday policies.
“We have therefore decided not to proceed in order to avoid any political stance that could cause offence to any supporters or discomfort to those in attendance at The Hive Stadium. We will clarify our position to the organisers of the collection.
“We want to be a helpful resource to our community and our supporters from all backgrounds and faiths and always respect everyone’s right to their own opinions.
“However our focus is ultimately to win football matches and be a safe and welcoming club to all.”
