Yaakov Katz, the Jerusalem Post’s editor-in-chief, said that he was “excited” about participating at a time when “British-Israeli relations are flourishing,” but when “antisemitism is on the rise”.
The event comes as part of the club’s ‘Say No To Antisemitism’ campaign that was launched by Russian-Israeli owner Roman Abramovitch in January 2018 and which aims to educate fans, players and staff about Jew-hate.
Mr Abramovitch, who has owned the club since 2003, has been active in donating to Jewish causes and has made antisemitism a core theme of its ‘Building Bridges’ campaign, created after repeated instances of racist and antisemitic incidents involving Chelsea fans.
In November, Chelsea donated towards the Imperial War Museum’s new Holocaust Galleries, while on Holocaust Memorial Day the club unveiled a mural outside its ground depicting footballers imprisoned and murdered at Auschwitz by British Jewish street artist Solomon Souza. In January, Chelsea became the first professional football club in the UK to adopt the IHRA’s working definition on antisemitism.
