Israel's U20 golden generation promised unity — then the war came

It was, says Ido Rakovsky, like reporting on “science fiction”, rather than sport. Israel, whose senior team have qualified for the World Cup just once, had beaten global powerhouses Brazil in the quarter-finals of the under-20 version of the tournament.

At the final whistle, the commentator covering the match for Israeli television vowed “you will tell of this night to your children, and they will tell it to your grandchildren”. Plenty heard him. Five days later, the team's semi-final against Uruguay was the most-watched thing of the evening on Israeli television, drawing a 23% viewing share. Politicians clamoured to congratulate the team. It was June 2023.

A nation falls in love with its kids

“That summer, everybody was watching under-20 football, everybody knew the players,” says Rakovsky, who was covering the team for Israeli media outlet Haaretz. “Everybody in Israel fell in love with these kids.”

It wasn't just their deeds on the pitch that felt otherworldly. After scoring a stoppage-time winner against Uzbekistan in the last 16, Anan Khalaili gave an interview to Israeli television in which he thanked viewers back home for staying up late to watch his team win in Argentina. To do so, the Israeli Arab used the words 'Am Yisrael' — a Hebrew phrase meaning 'People of Israel' bound up in Jewish religion, community, culture and history.

“That an Arab player used that figure of speech said something about the identity of that team,” says Rakovsky. “That team made real the claim that football can really bring people together — that Muslim players are part of the national team of the Jewish state, representing Israel and creating something better, both for the present and future.”

Third place was no fluke

Israel beat Brazil 3-2 in the quarter-finals before losing 1-0 to eventual champions Uruguay in the semi-finals, finishing third at the 2023 Under-20 World Cup. Their run was no fluke. The same set of players, with a few additions and omissions, had already impressed at continental level: they were runners-up at the 2022 Under-19 Euros, beaten by England in extra time in the final, and reached the semi-finals of the 2023 Under-20 Euros.

Israel has produced outstanding players before. Eyal Berkovic and Yossi Benayoun were technical, gifted attackers with long Premier League careers. But a depth of talent, emerging together, sets the current cohort apart.

A golden generation scatters to Europe and beyond

Anan Khalaili has been one of the most sought-after young prospects in Europe. After his £21.5m move to Inter Milan fell through, Crystal Palace saw off competition from Nottingham Forest to sign him for a similar fee from Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise. Playmaker Oscar Gloukh, 22, wears Ajax's number 10 shirt after his form earned a move from Red Bull Salzburg. Left-back Roy Revivo signed for Spanish club Elche on transfer deadline day from Maccabi Tel Aviv, while Twente defender Stav Lemkin, also 23, is highly rated. Dor Turgeman, Ilay Feingold and Idan Toklomati are impressing in Major League Soccer in the United States.

All have now won full caps, but were moulded into a collective, cohesive unit — something often beyond the senior side — by age-grade coach Ofir Haim.

“It isn't an issue at all here,” Haim said of the different backgrounds in his squad during the 2023 Under-20 World Cup. “We don't have any problem with religion. Not at all. We have players here who put on tefillin [Jewish ceremonial wear, containing verses from the Torah] — and Anan [Khalaili], Hamza [Shibli] and Ahmed [Salman] perform the Muslim prayers.

“We don't even talk about this. We unite everybody, and I wish the country were as united as this team.”

Football as the common language

Football has long been the part of Israeli society where communities who may not otherwise meet mix together. “The majority of the Jewish people who arrived in the mandate period [a spell between 1923 and 1948 where the region was run by Britain] emigrated from Europe,” says Dr Omer Einav, a historian and author of Defending the Goal, a book on Israel's football history. “They were Europeans and when you think about cinema, music, theatre, dance, they had nothing in common with Middle Eastern culture. Nothing, except football. That was the only common language, the only thing they both love in the same way.”

Encouraged by the British administrators who ran the region, teams from different communities, and some made up of elements of each, played against one another. When the modern state of Israel was formed in 1948, much of the Arab population that remained inside its borders continued to identify as or with Palestinians. They are also an intrinsic part of Israeli football: while they make up 20% of Israel's population, they represent about 35% of those involved in the sport at elite level nationally.

The first Arab player to represent Israel's national team was Rifaat Turk in 1976. In 2018, Bibars Natcho became the first Muslim to captain the team. Neither was without controversy — Turk was roundly abused, and Natcho's decision not to sing Israel's national anthem, the lyrics of which relate to the Jewish search for a homeland, was condemned by some.

The war changes everything

For a short time in the summer of 2023, it seemed as if Haim's under-20 side might offer a watershed moment of unity and co-existence. But football, like everything in Israel, changed on 7 October. Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. In response, Israel launched a massive military offensive in Gaza. The United Nations believes the retaliation has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians.

As the war goes on, the question lingers: can the potential of a golden generation of Israel's footballers, in sport and society, be realised?

Racism resurges in the stands

Matan Segal directed Kick It Out Israel, an anti-discrimination initiative, for almost four years before stepping down a few months ago. Racism has long been present in Israeli club football — Beitar Jerusalem's fans are among the most notorious, and in 2013 ultras burned down their own club's offices in protest at the signing of two Chechen Muslims. But during his time at the organisation, Segal saw racism against Arab players become more virulent and widespread.

Covid, during which fans radicalised online during lockdown, was one cause. The election of Israel's far-right government at the end of 2022, legitimising views towards Palestinians previously seen as extreme, was a second. The war was undoubtedly another.

“Before 7 October, people generally respected the Arab players,” Segal said. “Even though they had difficulties with them not singing the Israeli anthem, they respected them and they could talk about it. After 7 October though, we saw an increase in racist remarks. It was happening at small clubs where we hadn't seen it before. There were terrible songs — 'Let's kill all Arabs', 'There are no schools in Gaza because there are no children left'.”

Football has become a focal point for emotion generated by the conflict. Clubs which are usually bitter rivals came together to remember those killed by Hamas. Scarves were part of the commemoration at the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds were killed. Hapoel Jerusalem's club badge now features a silhouette of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was abducted and killed in captivity and whose parents have campaigned for peace through their grief. Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldiers have posed with club shirts.