West Ham Calls for Fans to Stop Anti-Palestine Chant

West Ham United have issued a firm plea to their supporters to abandon a chant “containing an anti-Palestine message” before the club’s first home game of the Championship season.

The east London side, relegated from the Premier League last term, said in a detailed statement on Thursday that it was “aware of an offensive and divisive chant” sung by a section of travelling fans during Sunday’s opener at Burnley.

The incident comes at a sensitive moment for the club. One of West Ham’s headline summer arrivals is Israel winger Manor Solomon, who joined from Tottenham Hotspur on a three-year deal. His signing has already stirred strong reactions elsewhere in Europe and among some fan groups, sharpening the spotlight on how clubs handle political and cultural flashpoints in the stands.

West Ham moved to draw a clear line.

“We encourage our supporters to sing loud and proud about their football club and the players wearing the claret and blue shirt — but never in a way that creates division or causes offence among fellow fans,” the club said, stressing that the message was a reminder “of the responsibility we all hold to represent the club in the right way”.

The timing is deliberate. West Ham host Charlton Athletic at the London Stadium on Saturday, their first home fixture since dropping into England’s second tier. The club want the stadium noise to roar, the songs to roll, but the message is unmistakable: leave that chant at the turnstiles.