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by Shiryn Ghermezian
Red Star Belgrade head coach Barak Bachar. Photo: Screenshot
Barak Bachar, the Israeli head coach of the Serbian professional men’s soccer team Red Star Belgrade, took time out of a press conference on Monday to express in length how disappointed he was in major European soccer clubs for not being more vocal about Hamas’ brutal massacre of 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7.
“Whole families were burned alive and their homes. The girls were raped before they were killed and after. Pregnant women were cut open by these monsters who also shot the baby. Hundreds of children were killed, and many were kidnapped. How can you ignore that?” Bachar said at a press briefing ahead of Red Star Belgrade’s UEFA Champions League match against RB Leipzig on Wednesday.
“The football world has disappointed me, many of those who were murdered loved football, they loved Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Liverpool,” he added. “The football world is really disappointing, I wonder if it’s all about the money. Can money also buy value and justice?”
The former Maccabi Haifa head coach also shared that he spoke on the phone with a young boy named Michael, the son of Ynet photographer Roy Edan, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists along with his wife in Kfar Aza. Hamas terrorists entered the Edan family home, killed Roy and his wife, and kidnapped one of their daughters. Michael and his six-year-old sister, who were hiding in a closet during the home invasion, managed to call police, who then came to rescue them.
“They say that football connects between nations and races, and always talk about peace and respect. I ask — where is the respect for the 1,400 people that were murdered, innocent young men and women, who some just wanted to enjoy a peace party and were slaughtered?” Bachar said. “We all sit here in Germany, we all know their story. The clubs have spoken here, they have chosen to be on the side of the victim, the right side. It is a little light in this darkness.”
He noted the support he has received from Red Star Belgrade and the Serbian community before talking about his own heartache, and that of other Israelis, regarding the war. He concluded by proclaiming Israel’s resilience.
“My country is bleeding, and my family, wife, and three children run to the shelter every night, an hour ago they bombed near their house,” he said. “A lot of people are broken. Everyone should know one important thing. No one will break the Israeli spirit, and we will win, because we don’t have a choice. Am Yisrael Chai!”
