Actually, they put Palestine on the back, but it’s still getting plenty of attention. The Palestine Football Club, Deportivo Palestino, based in Santiago, Chile recently redesigned their jerseys replacing the number 1 with an image of Palestine (number 11 really lucked out).
The Chilean Jewish community is freaking out. The JTA reports that the Wiesenthal center is taking its usual understated approach and has referred to the jerseys as “fomenting terrorist intent”:
“We know that FIFA prohibits such actions,” Gerardo Gorodischer, president of Chile’s Jewish community, told reporters Monday. “You cannot make a political claim and import the Middle East conflict using the platform of football, using the sport to lie and hate.”
Gorodischer is demanding an apology from the Santiago-based team, whose name in Spanish is Club Deportivo Palestino, and is asking Chile’s national soccer association to ban the shirts. . . .
On Tuesday, in a letter to the president of the Chilean National Football Association, the Simon Wiesenthal Center called for the Palestine FC to pay a penalty “for fomenting terrorist intent.”
And from the International Business Times:
“This act of smugness by the irresponsible mangers of Palestino is offensive to the whole Chilean Jewish community. It’s unprecedented,” tweeted Gabriel Zaliasnik, the former president of Chilean Jewish community (CJC).
Zaliasnik added that the shirt incited to violence and hatred, thus breaching Fifa regulations.
His successor at the head of CJC, Gerardo Gorodischer, has urged Chile’s football association to ban the shirt.
“We reject the import of the Middle East conflict in Chile,” Gorodischer tweeted.
The team was originally founded in 1920 by Palestinian immigrants to the country, and Chile now has one of the largest Palestinian communities in the world.
The JTA reports the Palestinian Federation of Chile issued a statement in response to the protest saying, “We reject the hypocrisy of those who blame this map but they talk about the occupied territory as disputed territory.”
The accurate number 1 would consist only out of a few specks.
““fomenting terrorist intent”:”
F–k the whole Chilean Jewish community.
The team has an amazing history.
It was founded in Osorno, Chile (South Chile) in 1920 by Palestinian immigrants and their sons.
1920 ???!!!
Even I have to admit that alone proves that Palestinian identity did NOT suddenly appear in 1964, as so many claim.
These are some videos I translated.
My Spanish is abysmal, so forgive any errors
The Official Soccer Club Fight Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2e648vEOeM
They call themselves Baisanos because the Spanish word for fellow countrymen is Paisano but their Arab ancestors could not pronounce the P.
The mispronunciation is now a matter of pride.
THEY ARE VERY POLITICIZED AS THIS VIDEO I TRANSLATED SHOWS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Mdh0Jny5E
The claim support for Hamas and the Intifada.
This next video is by someone else. They have broad support in Chile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh-_gRpGJ28
During games the fans show off green, white, red and black flare, the colors of the Palestinian flag.
They have won NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS twice, in 1955 and 1978.
Some of their players – Robert Bishara – are the sons of Palestinians. Bishara has played in both Chile and Palestine teams. Robert Bishara was born in Chile, but his father was born in the Mideast. I think his mother was a Chilean-born Palestinian. I think he has dual citizenship.
Bishara is Catholic.
Almost all, about 99+% of the Palestinians in Chile are Christian, mix of Antiochan Orthodox and Catholic.
This is a big team in Chile, like America’s Notre Dame.
The team is highly politicized, often having a moment of silence before each game for the victims of the latest war.
The Palestinians are rich elites in Chile and run large parts of Chile’s industy and banking.
The Palestinos send over players and coaches to coach soccer in the contested areas. Israel does interfere with that.
A video of all their teams over six decades
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv1E9O4PhO4
Originally, the members of the club had to have Palestinian ancestry. That rule has changed, but many still do. Roberto Bishara for example.
I am not opposed to Israel …. but the existence of the Palestino Soccer Club proves that there was a Palestinian identity very early one.
END PART I
I will post more in a following post
Interestingly, this club was created in 1920 under its current name. This puts to rest the claim that Palestinians didn’t call themselves that before the sixties.
Love it.
The organized Jewish community is pathologically hysterical it seems. Whether the Zionists are based in America or elsewhere, it’s always this hysterical bizarre reaction.
They are afraid of the Palestinian narrative getting press. They are afraid of Palestinian agency.
They want us non-Jews to hate Arabs and Muslims and Palestinians and love Jews or at the least ignore the conflict.