Israel’s racism has made its way to the New York Times via soccer, the same sport that led to the dismantling of South Africa’s Apartheid regime. Jodi Rudoren reports, Some Fear a Soccer Team’s Racist Fans Hold a Mirror Up to Israel:
The angry, defiant exchanges that punctuated Tuesday night’s unusually tense game here came amid intense protests by Beitar Jerusalem supporters over the team owner’s plans to recruit two Muslim players from Chechnya. Some young men had unfurled a banner at the previous game declaring “Beitar pure forever,” which reminded many here of Nazi Germany’s purging of Jews from athletics in 1933 and prompted statewide discussion about racism on and off the field.
“People in Israel usually try to locate Beitar Jerusalem as some kind of the more extreme fringe; this is a way to overcome the embarrassment,” said Moshe Zimmermann, a historian at Hebrew University who specializes in sports. “The fact is that the Israeli society on the whole is getting more racist, or at least more ethnocentric, and this is an expression.”
Reaction to the purity banner, perhaps the most controversial in a series of Beitar outbursts, was swift. One of the fans who made the sign was arrested and banned from games for the season. Fifty more were barred from Tuesday’s match, along with banners of all kinds, and the team was fined about $13,500, amid concerns that the episode could threaten Israel’s scheduled hosting of a European Under 21 soccer tournament in June.
Israel will be hosting the European Football Federation (UEFA) 2013 Under-21 Football Championship finals between the 5–18 June 2013. Palestinian sports groups responded immediately after that decision was made in June 2011 urging UEFA President Michel Platini not to “reward Israel for its violent repression of Palestinian rights.” Platini has come under mounting international pressure to strip Israel of hosting rights ever since.
Federation of International Football (FIFA) president condemned Israel’s imprisonment of Palestinian soccer players on June 12, 2012. Six days later on June 18th Israel agreed to release Palestinian soccer star and hunger striker Mahmoud Sarsak from prison on July 10, 2012.
UN General Assembly adopted the International Convention Against Apartheid in Sports in 1985. Like no other institution in South Africa it was soccer that led to the dismantling of the regime and defeated Apartheid. Dave Zirin, The Nation:
BDS activist Laura Durkay said to me…..“The next step should be to move from symbolic statements to actions to boycott and isolate Israel in the sports world, according to the guidelines for cultural boycott set out by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee.”
Petitioning UEFA President Michel Platini: Remove UEFA 2013 European Under-21 Championship from Israel. Sign here.
Sport is based on fairness and respect.
Israel isn’t.
Sports boycotts are a no-brainer.
The reason Israeli authorities reacted “swiftly” was due to the importance of the upcoming tournament from an economic and cultural perspective. Israel feared isolation and/or bad PR knowing full well the popularity of soccer and the importance of tourism.
It should be clear that this “swift” action had nothing to do with Israeli authorities cracking down on racism and bigotry, as though they disapprove of said bigotry. That was not the case here.
More importantly, however, this incident demonstrates how BDS can bring about changes in Israel’s criminal and immoral policies toward Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line.
“pure forever” Wow, that is very creepy. Same language as you-know-who, with “Reinheit” laws. Unfortunately it reflects the sentiment of too many.
Repulsive as the banner was, I wonder if the arrest of the fan was legal under free speech laws?
Soccer fans chanting racist slogans? I guess this has only ever happened in Israel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_association_football
Tell me: What’s been the reaction to Jewish players on soccer teams in other Middle Eastern countries?
In any event, it seems that Beitar Jerusalem is not listening to their fans. Or that the chanting of their fans is going unnoticed and unaddressed in Israel.
Ehud Olmert, for instance, has announced that he will not attend any Beitar games until the hooligans are removed:
“One of the finest days of Israeli sports was the day Bnei Sakhnin won the State Cup final. It was very moving to see Jewish and Arab players dancing with the Israeli flag, proud of winning the State Cup…
“The fact that the Arabs are part of the State of Israel and are citizens with equal rights is irrelevant. Even if they were not citizens, these despicable expressions of racism cannot be tolerated, regardless of the fact that we live with Arabs and respect their heritage and religion. Arabs are welcome everywhere, including in the stands of Teddy Stadium and on the pitch, wearing the uniform of the team I thought I supported. ”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4338691,00.html
ESPN did segment on Betar back in November. Overall it was pretty good, I just have a few quibbles.
1. There was no discussions about Betar’s political origins in the Revisionist youth movement which was quite fascist.
2. The rowdies also object to Black players as well, I believe they like to make monkey noises when they come on the field. I cannot recall that this was mentioned in the show.
3. The fans’ attitudes was mainly blamed on the ongoing I/P struggle, the bad feelings that Arab terror has spawned in Israeli society and allowed to fester.
My main problem with the show as that it presented the rowdies as extremists when their views are, in fact, far more mainstream than is healthy.