Haaretz
Adar2 28, 5765
Betar Jerusalem's fans
showed this week that Israeli society - or at least part of it - is
severely ill, infected with blatant, contemptible racism. At a soccer game
between Betar and Bnei Sakhnin, some Betar fans did not hold back racist
curses against Abbas Suan, Bnei Sakhnin's midfielder. They didn't like the
fact that an Israeli Arab scored the equalizing goal against Ireland, thus
leaving Israel still in the race for the World Cup. They did not like the
fact that the Arab team has twice defeated Betar Jerusalem. "You can go
crazy over the fact that Arabs beat us," said one of the fans, repeating
the same kind of contemptible racist remarks made for generations about
Jews in the countries where they were in the minority.
Betar's
management tried vainly to dignify the situation when they presented Suan
a bouquet of flowers before the start of Monday's game, but the hysterical
crowd responsed with an enormous chorus of whistles and boos, and roared,
cursed, and booed Suan and all Arabs everywhere throughout the entire
game. A report by the New Israel Fund says that Betar Jerusalem fans lead
the league on the racism and violence index, and that at one game between
Betar and Bnei Sakhnin there was unusually poisonous chanting of slogans
like "Baruch Goldstein loves you all" and "Kahane lives."
These
expressions of racism continue to be heard, without an appropriate public
response or appropriate police response. If the fans of a team in the U.S.
or Europe were to shout similar chants against Jewish players, the uproar
would be enormous: Israel would demand immediate apologies and action to
be taken at the highest levels, and politicians would launch sharp
condemnations. But in Israel, the most terrible things get said in public
about Arabs and the prime minister is silent. The president is silent. The
speaker of the Knesset is silent. And the police do nothing, even though
there are suitable laws for dealing with the matter.
Betar
Jerusalem's rabble (and it is only some of the fans of the team) gives
Israeli football, and through it, the State of Israel, a disgustingly
racist character, so it is impossible this time to make do as usual with a
disciplinary move against the team. This is dangerous racism that harms
the very fabric of life that most of the public is trying to create
between Jews and Arabs, and it must be eradicated.
The Football
Association must impose heavy fines on the team, to force its management
to do something. A heavy, deterrent punishment, for example, would be
docking league points from the team, thus threatening Betar's Premier
League survival. The team's management must install cameras in the stands,
and fill the stands with guards whose job would be to identify the rabble
and prevent them from getting into the stadium. The police must
investigate the rioters and recommend criminal prosecution.
If all
this is done quickly and efficiently, it would be a clear message to the
racist rioters that the vast majority of the Israeli public is disgusted
by them and their racism.