ROME -- During an Italy-Israel football match, some supporters of Italy’s national team were thrown out of the stadium for making the straight-armed Fascist ‘Roman salute’ gesture during the playing of the Israeli national anthem, a few minutes before kick-off, sources said Wednesday.

 The match was a qualifier for the 2018 World Cup in Russia that was played in the Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa, according to ‘Il Fatto Quotidiano’.

 During the singing of the Israeli national anthem, visiting Italian fans flashed Roman salutes from the stands of the stadium. Various online groups of Jewish Italians condemned and drew attention to this piece of news on the Web.

 The Italian consulate in Israel, as reported by ‘La Repubblica’, says that two Italian nationals were removed from the match stadium ‘due to excessive behaviour’.

 Fifa’s reaction is still being waited upon. As in previous cases of this type, as seen done by Uefa, football authorities could inflict sanctions to the Italian Federation which could disqualify them from the pitch.

 nkd