It took a while. But a good three hours before the game starts, the slightly tense atmosphere in “Jaffa” is relieved with the help of music. The system in the Israeli restaurant is turned up. People dance around the tables to traditional sounds. In the middle of it all, local owner Bilal Aloge, a Muslim, Kurdish Syrian, has joined the crowd, who, with the opening of “Jaffa” at the beginning of 2025, has created a meeting place for the Jewish community in Freiburg. But more on that later.
Before the football match between SC Freiburg and Maccabi Tel Aviv, “Jaffa” will also be a contact point for fans from Israel. Free beer is available for them, and Bilal Aloge has organized 1,000 Israeli flags. The regular guests predominate, there are only a few from Israel among the dancers, for the guest area in the stadium Only about 100 tickets were sold anyway.
There is a massive police presence outside the bar. Almost ten emergency vehicles and a few motorcycles can be seen. Unknown visitors must undergo a body search. “There is also a fear,” says Aloge. In the days before the football game, he reports, he had to scratch off more and more anti-Semitic stickers.
According to the police, at another location of a previous Jewish meeting in Freiburg, on the square of the Old Synagogue, 650 people demonstrated almost simultaneously against this game and, among other things, for the exclusion of Israeli sport in Europe. And they complain a genocide in Gaza would be normalized.
Game result just a side note
The issues that have been discussed in the city for months before the football match between SC Freiburg and Maccabi Tel Aviv are overwhelmingly serious. It’s not about lineups and questions of tactics, but about international law and crimes against humanity, hatred of Israel and anti-Semitism. In this situation, SC Freiburg’s 1-0 win on Thursday evening seems to be nothing more than a side note.
The tone of the debate is already mid-November with an internet petition from the Freiburg alliance “Solidarity for Palestine”. The three main demands: exclusion of Maccabi fans from the game in Freiburg, exclusion of Israel from European football, ticket revenue from SC Freiburg should benefit Palestinian victims in Gaza, following the example of the Norwegian Football Association.
Both the city of Freiburg and SC Freiburg clearly distance themselves from this request in statements. That’s why they didn’t even bother to talk to the city and the club, say the three representatives of the alliance. The differences seem irreconcilable. The meeting point two days before the game is a corner bar near the university with a dark interior.
Two women and a man came who wanted to reveal as little personal information as possible – in order to avoid possible future professional disadvantages. Only first names, not all of which are correct. Roughly estimated they are around 30 years old. One is doing her doctorate, one is working, one doesn’t want to say anything about it. They call themselves Sarah, Annie and Avram. It should only be “about the matter” anyway. Avram is Jewish-Israeli, wears an SC Freiburg scarf, and is the most aggressive person in defending himself against accusations of anti-Semitism that the group has received because of its desire to be excluded. “We firmly reject the tendency to frame opinions critical of Israel as anti-Semitic. The Israeli state is trying to equate Jewish life with itself.”
Liable to their government?
The accusation of generalizing and with the boycott demands Avram also faces the prospect of holding all Maccabi fans responsible for Israeli government policy. Don’t Maccabi fans represent the entire spectrum of Israeli society, and aren’t there explicit opponents of Prime Minister Netanyahu among them? “It’s about more than Netanyahu. It’s about genocide in Gaza. The Israeli left also thinks that the military did a good job in Gaza. Almost no one says I won’t join the army,” Avram replies.
Sarah claims that it is common practice in sport to sanction violations of international law. She dismisses counterexamples as whataboutism. For Avram, the question of why the war in Gaza receives more attention than other military conflicts is not relevant. He demands: “We should not avoid the issue of Israel.” Annie adds: “We don’t want to play off each other’s different sufferings.”
The “Alliance Solidarity with Palestine” also does practical work on site. Because right-wing extremist fans attacked Arabic-language shops in Amsterdam during Maccabi Tel Aviv’s guest appearance, cards with telephone numbers for legal advice after possible attacks were distributed in corresponding Freiburg shops, says Sarah. “We see these stores at risk.” About the “hunt for Jews” in Amsterdam that was agreed upon in internet chats, which was also put into action, she doesn’t waste a word.
Around 1,500 people have signed their internet petition. A success? Sarah says: “There is no set goal. It’s about raising awareness of the issue.” They would consider peaceful protest and no attacks on Freiburg residents by Maccabi fans as a success of their commitment.
Death threats over the menu
It remained peaceful on Thursday in Freiburg during the protest as well as on the part of the Maccabi fans. The police had already stated in advance that it was questionable whether the notorious right-wing extremist ultra group “Fanatics” anyone is coming at all. Where the authorities assess the threat level to be particularly high can be seen that day in front of the Israeli restaurant “Jaffa”.
Owner Bilal Aloge has experienced that very little is enough to become the target of anti-Semitic attacks in Germany. The Kurdish Syrian was once known in Freiburg as a successful restaurateur of two well-running Arab restaurants called “Damascus”. They were also visited by older members of the Jewish community in Freiburg. The Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th prompted him to put a small sign of sympathy on his menu. There he praised the eggplant cream Baba Ghanoush as an Israeli dish. “I wanted to say to my Israeli, mostly older visitors: ‘You are welcome’. I saw how badly affected they were by the terrorist attack.” He also posted the innovation on his restaurant’s Instagram account.
He and his wife promptly received death and arson threats as well as the worst insults. Aloge reports hundreds of phone calls. A large number of their friends of Arab origin broke off their friendship with them overnight. There were calls for a boycott on the Internet anyway. The restaurant was on the verge of bankruptcy when no one wanted to reserve tables even at the peak of the season, the Sugar Festival. “Because of one item on the menu! That can’t be right,” says Aloge. Only the police were there – because of the threat – and a few Jewish regulars. They advised him to contact the security service at the Freiburg synagogue because they were ultimately familiar with such situations.
This led to new connections and the decision to respond to the hostility by opening an Israeli restaurant. It is estimated that around 700 people belong to the Jewish community in Freiburg. How grateful people in their ranks are to Bilal Aloge to have a common place with “Jaffa” that previously did not exist in the city, can be seen from the very warm greetings in the restaurant. The story of the Muslim restaurateur who was driven into an anti-Semitic corner in Freiburg and thus became political spread to Israeli television. In summer, tour groups from there regularly visit the Freiburg restaurant.
“With us, every guest is a friend”
“I actually don’t like politics,” says Aloge two days before the highly politicized football game. He enjoys the simple, friendly atmosphere in his restaurant. His cook David, who moved to Freiburg from Israel with his family for “Jaffa” and stirs the pots in the kitchen with a yarmulke on his head, works with Mohamed, a Muslim. “I like you a lot, but I don’t like your government,” Mohamed once said to David, reports Aloge. He likes that very much.
Within the four walls of “Jaffa,” Bilal Aloge is able to approach the complex conflict situation in the Middle East with disarming simplicity. “With us, every guest is a friend,” says the Jaffa homepage. The right-wing extremist fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv, about whom there had been a lot of talk beforehand, would also be welcome as long as they behaved, he assured. Otherwise they would be handed over to the police. You have to counter bad with good. The test to the example will not take place on this day.
Aloge rented a tram in Freiburg as advertising space for his restaurant. “Schalömle” is written on the blue tram. And before the game against Maccabi Tel Aviv, he advertised via Instagram that this should be used to transport fans to the stadium. Freiburger Verkehrs AG (VAG) said in the days before the game that this still had to be discussed with the police.
Just the day before the game, the “Jaffa-Bahn” was involved in a “classic left-turn accident,” as the VAG reported upon request. There was no evidence of intentional damage. And the taz let it be known: “As a municipal subsidiary, we are also committed to political neutrality and do not take part in the politicization of the football game or the politicization of the tram.” That also sounds easier than it is.