The Green Apes (Hebrew: הקופים הירוקים) is the largest supporters' club dedicated to Maccabi Haifa of Israel. The club was started in 2002. Its name reflects the degrading chants directed towards Maccabi supporters. It is presumed that Maccabi Tel-Aviv fans used to degradingly call Maccabi supporters "Monkeys" ("kofim") in the early 2000s, accusing them for copying their chants. Hardcore Maccabi supporters have adopted this name for themselves as an act of irony directed towards the Tel-Avivians, based upon a precedence set by Ajax Amsterdam fans (who adopted their association to Jews as an irony toward Feynoord fans) .
References
Green Apes Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA