It took a little while. But a little more than three hours before kick-off the slightly tense mood at “Jaffa” dissolves with the help of music. The sound system in the Israeli restaurant is cranked up. To traditional melodies, people dance around the tables. In the middle, the restaurant owner Billal Aloge has joined in, a Muslim, a Kurdish-Syrian who, with the opening of “Jaffa” in early 2025, has created a place of encounter for Freiburg’s Jewish community. But more on that later.
Before the football match between SC Freiburg and Maccabi Tel Aviv, “Jaffa” is also meant to be a meeting point for fans from Israel. Free beer is on offer for them, and Billal Aloge has organized 1,000 Israeli flags. The regulars predominate; among the dancers there are only a few from Israel, and for the away section in the stadium, barely 100 tickets were sold anyway.
Outside around the venue, the police stand guard with a massive deployment. Nearly ten patrol cars and a few motorcycles are visible. Unknown visitors must undergo a body search. “There is definitely fear as well,” says Aloge. In the days before the football match, he notes, he had to peel off more antisemitic stickers again.
At another site of former Jewish encounter in Freiburg, at Platz der Alten Synagoge, nearly simultaneously 650 people demonstrate against this match and, among other things, for the exclusion of Israeli sports in Europe. And they complain that a genocide in Gaza would be normalized.
Match Result: Just a Footnote
The topics that have been discussed in the city for months ahead of the football match between SC Freiburg and Maccabi Tel Aviv are of crushing weight. It’s not about lineups and tactical questions, but about international law and crimes against humanity, about Israel hatred and antisemitism. In this milieu, Freiburg’s 1-0 victory on Thursday evening seems to be no more than a footnote.
Both the city of Freiburg and SC Freiburg distance themselves clearly in statements from this demand. The three representatives of the alliance say they did not even seek talks with the city and the club. The differences seem insurmountable. The meeting point is two days before the game at a corner pub near the university with a dark interior.
Two women and a man have come, who prefer to reveal as little personal information as possible—to avoid potential future professional disadvantages. Only first names, not all of which are correct. Roughly they are about 30 years old. One holds a PhD, one works, one does not want to say anything. They call themselves Sarah, Annie, and Avram. It is supposed to be about “the issue” anyway. Avram is a Jewish Israeli, wears an SC Freiburg scarf, and is the most outspoken against the antisemitism accusation that the group has earned for its exclusion wishes. “We firmly reject the tendency to frame Israel-critical opinions as antisemitic. The Israeli state is trying to equate Jewish life with itself.”
Accountable for Their Government?
In response to the accusation of generalizing and holding all Maccabi fans responsible for the Israeli government’s policy through boycott demands, Avram also finds himself under fire. If Maccabi fans do not represent the whole spectrum of Israeli society, aren’t there explicit opponents of Prime Minister Netanyahu among them? “It’s about more than Netanyahu. It’s about genocide in Gaza. Even the Israeli left thinks the military did a good job in Gaza. Almost no one says, I won’t join the army,” Avram replies.
It is standard practice in sport to sanction violations of international law, Sarah claims. She rejects counter-examples as whataboutism. For Avram, the question is not why the war in Gaza receives more attention than other armed conflicts. He demands: “We should not avoid the topic of Israel.” Annie adds: “We do not want to pit different suffering against each other.”
The “Solidarity with Palestine” alliance also does practical work on the ground. Because in Amsterdam, during Maccabi Tel Aviv’s visit, their far-right fans attacked shops with Arabic signage, they distributed cards with phone numbers for legal advice after possible attacks in relevant Freiburg shops, Sarah explains. “We see these shops as endangered.” She offers no comment about the online chats arranged for the “hunt for Jews” in Amsterdam, which were also carried out.
About 1,500 people had signed their online petition. A success? Sarah says: “There is no fixed goal. It is about raising awareness for the issue.” Peaceful protest and no assaults on Freiburg residents by Maccabi fans would be considered a success of their efforts.
Murder Threats Over the Menu
Peaceful on Thursday in Freiburg for the protest as well as from the side of Maccabi fans remained. In advance, the police had stated that it was doubtful whether anyone from the infamous far-right ultra-group “Fanatics” would actually come. Where authorities assess the threat level as particularly high, one could see it outside the Israeli restaurant “Jaffa.”
That so little is enough to become the target of antisemitic attacks in Germany is something owner Billal Aloge has experienced. The Kurdish-Syrian used to be known in Freiburg as a successful restaurateur of two well-running Arab restaurants named “Damascus.” They were also frequented by older members of Freiburg’s Jewish community. The Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 prompted him to place a small sign of solidarity on his menu. He praised baba ganoush as an Israeli dish. “I wanted to tell my Israeli, mostly older, visitors: ‘You are welcome.’ I saw how deeply affected they were by the terrorist attack.” He also posted the change on his restaurant’s Instagram account.
Shortly thereafter, he and his wife received death threats and arson threats as well as vile insults. Aloge reports hundreds of phone calls. A large portion of their Arab-origin friends overnight cut their friendship. There were boycott calls on the Internet anyway. The restaurant stood on the brink of bankruptcy, as even at the season’s peak, the Sugar Festival, no one wanted to reserve tables. “Because of a dish on the menu! That can’t be,” says Aloge. Only the police were there—because of the threat level—and a few Jewish regulars. They advised him to contact the security service of the Freiburg synagogue, because they deal with such situations.
Thus grew new connections and the resolve to respond to the hostility by opening an Israeli restaurant. About 700 people, it is estimated, belong to Freiburg’s Jewish community. How grateful they are to Billal Aloge to have Jaffa as a common place that did not exist in the city before is evident in the restaurant’s very warm welcomes. The story of the Muslim restaurateur who was driven into antisemitic confinement in Freiburg and thereby politicized spread all the way to Israeli television. In summer, travel groups from there regularly visit the Freiburg venue.
“Every Guest Is a Friend Here”
“I don’t really like politics,” says Aloge two days before the highly politicized football match. He appreciates the simple, friendly coexistence in his restaurant. His chef David, who moved with his family from Israel to Freiburg for the “Jaffa” and stirs in pots in the kitchen with a kippah on his head, works with the Muslim Mohamed. “I like you a lot, but not your government,” Mohamed reportedly told David once, according to Aloge. He likes this very much.
Within the four walls of the “Jaffa,” Billal Aloge can face the complex Middle East conflict with disarming simplicity. “Every guest is a friend here,” is stated on the Jaffa’s homepage. Even the far-right fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv, about whom much was said beforehand, would be welcome by him as long as they behave, he assures. Otherwise, they would be handed over to the police. One must meet bad with good. The test of that approach is not applied on this day.
Aloge has rented a tram in Freiburg as advertising space for his venue. “Schalömle” is written on the blue tram. And before the match against Maccabi Tel Aviv he advertised via Instagram that it should be used to transport the fans to the stadium. The Freiburger Verkehrs AG (VAG) stated in the days before the game that this still had to be coordinated with the police.
Just the day before the match, the “Jaffa tram” was involved in a “classic left-turning accident,” as the VAG reported upon inquiry. There were no indications of deliberate damage. And the was informed: “As a municipal subsidiary, we are further obliged to political neutrality and do not participate in politicizing the football game or politicizing the tram.” That, too, sounds easier said than done.