On 7 November, Novara Media published a video from outside the Aston Villa – Maccabi Tel Aviv match. In one section, they interviewed a protester who was there to defend the feelings of the Israeli soldiers who’ve been tasked with perpetrating the state’s genocide. As you’ll see, his defence proved less than convincing.
“All sorts of crimes”
The man isn’t named, but Novara describe him a being part of a “small group of Maccabi Tel Aviv protesters”. He says to journalist Simon Childs:
I’m hearing people say ‘Zionist baby killers… not welcome here’. Young people who fight to defend their nation are being accused of all sorts of crimes.
The man is right to suggest that those enforcing the genocide are “being accused of all sorts of crimes”.
At the top level, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has arrest warrants out for several high-ranking Israelis they’ve accused of committing war crimes, including PM Benjamin Netanyahu. At the troop level, the Hind Rajab Foundation is tracking IDF troops as they travel the world. This is how they describe their mission:
Established during the ongoing Gaza genocide, our foundation honors the memory of Hind Rajab and all those who have perished or suffered under the Israeli genocidal campaign.
Our core mission is to actively pursue legal action against those responsible for these atrocities, including perpetrators, accomplices, and inciters of violence against Palestinians. Through offensive litigation, we aim to hold these actors accountable in both international and national courts, challenging the culture of impunity that has allowed such crimes to persist.
🚨🇩🇪 The #HindRajabFoundation has filed a criminal complaint in Germany against Israeli extremist Elkana Federman — now in Berlin — for torture of prisoners and blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Germany has a duty to act while he’s on its soil.
More info ⬇️… pic.twitter.com/SSUwcw6nlY— The Hind Rajab Foundation (@HindRFoundation) October 31, 2025
Oh, and before we forget, we should note the UK police banned Maccabi Tel Aviv fans because their numbers include hooligans who fought in the IDF, as Middle East Eye reported:
Dutch police told their British counterparts that over 200 Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans who wreaked havoc in Amsterdam in November 2024 were “linked to the Israel Defense Forces [IDF]”, and that hundreds more were “experienced fighters”, “highly organised” and “intent on causing serious violence”,
This is inevitable, of course, because Israel has national service. The fact that most Israelis serve in the military has no doubt contributed towards public opinion over there looking like this (as reported by Israeli outlet Haaretz in June this year):
The author of that piece wrote:
Within days I began receiving anguished inquiries about the results. Friends, colleagues, peace activists, journalists and strangers wrote in from Australia to Uruguay to down the block, asking if it could possibly be true that 82 percent of Israeli Jews support “the transfer (expulsion) of residents of the Gaza Strip to other countries?” No less than 54 percent of Jewish respondents were “very” supportive.
Other findings were grim: A majority of 56 percent of Jews supported the “transfer (forced expulsion) of Arab citizens of Israel to other countries.” And when asked directly whether they agreed with the position that the IDF, “when conquering an enemy city, should act in a manner similar to the way the Israelites acted when they conquered Jericho under the leadership of Joshua, namely, to kill all its inhabitants?” nearly half, 47 percent, agreed.
Israel has held Gaza under siege for decades, and many Israelis have contributed towards this through their military service. Obviously this is going to warp how they view Palestinians. We’re not highlighting this to excuse them, by the way; we’re saying the situation over there is incredibly abnormal, and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise.
“Do you think that’s a normal thing?” says a Maccabi fan without irony
Back to the interview, the Maccabi supporter said:
I’m not hearing anybody putting forward anything positive as to how to resolve and come up with a solution to this problem.
Simon Childs responded by asking:
Do you understand the sense of feeling, when… there have been a lot of children being killed?
The man seemed perplexed, asking:
Do you think I wouldn’t understand?
It’s an odd thing to ask given that everything he said in the interview suggests he doesn’t understand. Simon Child noted in response that “babies have been killed”, to which the man responded:
Yeah, but – yeah, but do you – I mean – do you think that’s a normal way for grown adults to behave? That when there’s a war in which people are killed, obviously, you then run around hysterically screaming ‘baby killer’? Do you think that’s a normal thing?
Oh yeah, you’ve got them there – it’s not the people who are killing the babies who are abnormal; it’s the people who noticed them doing it.
Because Israel has been waging a war on a captive population, it’s proven particularly deadly for civilians – including children. Combined with the statements of genocidal intent made by senior Israelis, this is part of the reason why people have described the situation as a ‘genocide’ rather than a ‘war’.
As Save the Children reported:
At least one Palestinian child has been killed every hour on average by Israeli forces in Gaza over nearly 23 months of war, with the number of children killed now surpassing 20,000, Save the Children said.
This is almost certainly an underestimate, as it’s been impossible to gauge the overall number of deaths because of how Israel waged its genocide.
In many instances, it is literally babies who have suffered, though:
The forced evacuation of NICU babies from a hospital in northern Gaza.
Israel is besieging hospitals in northern Gaza, ordering evacuation and then immediately trapping patients and staff inside, committing massacres throughout the north. pic.twitter.com/XSGTP0wswr
— Hanna Alshaikh – هناء الشيخ (@hanna_alshaikh) October 9, 2024
In December 2023, NBC News reported that a reporter found decomposing babies in a hospital that Israel targeted. The piece also noted:
Doctors at Al Shifa, one of Gaza’s largest hospitals, which faced intense bombardment and raids by Israeli forces last month, struggled to keep dozens of premature babies alive due to power outages. Most of them were then evacuated to Egypt by the Palestine Red Crescent Society. At the time, Palestinian health officials said eight premature babies died.
Bombing hospitals is a war crime, by the way; we’re sorry if it’s abnormal to point that out.
To add insult to injury, they don’t just bomb children; they also do shit like this:
🚨SICKENING!!
In the Israeli way: An Israeli soldier dressed as Santa Claus bombs civilians in #Gaza..
This is how Israel celebrates Christmas !We will NEVER forget ,We will NEVER forgive ‼️ pic.twitter.com/NJZEbILRY8
— Nour Naim| نُور (@NourNaim88) December 27, 2023
Nazi hunters
The man seems to think that although it’s very sad when armies kill civilians, it’s abnormal to make soldiers feel bad about it. This is a hell of a thing to suggest when we’re talking about Israel – the country which literally spent decades hunting down Nazis.
Was it wrong to hold Nazis to account for war crimes?
We don’t think so, but increasingly Israel and its supporters seem to be very confused on the matter.
Featured image via Novara Media
