A new campaign focused on sending across a strong message of coexistence and against segregation has been launched by the Fare member New Fund Israel (NIF) as part of the country's football season's kick-off.

Along with the campaign, a new video has also been produced to mark the start of a new partnership between NIF and the Israel Football Association (IFA).

The 'We're all Equal, We're all One Team' video, inspired on the 2006 Adidas World Cup advertisement, brings together men, women, youth and former players of the Israeli national teams to set an example of shared society, tolerance and equality for Jews and Arabs.

The campaign is using the influence of football and its stars to promote positive values.

Over the coming season, NIF and IFA are planning a series of events around the campaign.

IFA challenged in court for 'segregation'
The campaign was launched days after IFA were challenged in court on the decision to divide the children’s national football league in the Al-Shomoron area (the Triangle area) into “Shomoron 1”, comprised of 12 Jewish teams and 2 Arab teams, and “Shomoron 2”, comprised of 13 Arab teams, imposing a segregation between Jewish teams and most Arab teams.

On the case IFA hinted that the division of the teams was based on requests from Jewish families and said: “we will not contradict the desires of the clubs (regarding the divisions), and we will not force a child to play in a league that is not joyful for him/her and that does not help his/her professional development”.