E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Nir Elias / Reuters
Fans of Beitar Jerusalem shout slogans during a soccer match against Bnei Sakhnin on Sunday amid controversy over Beitar's signing of two Muslim players.
The Beitar Jerusalem club has long been known for its fans' racist chants, but the situation escalated dramatically last month after the team signed Zaur Sadayev and Gabriel Kadiev, two Muslim players from Chechnya.
The most outspoken wave of hate comes from a hardcore section of supporters – known as La Familia -- who see themselves as Beitar’s real owners.
“Death to the Arabs,” they yell during matches. “Beitar, pure forever,” they declare.
Rocks have been thrown at players and, during a recent practice, a fan ran onto the soccer field and tried to attack one of the new Muslim players.
Nir Elias / Reuters
Beitar Jerusalem's new player Gabriel Kadiev, a Muslim player from Chechnya, (right) is seen in action during the game.
The most shocking incident happened on Feb. 8 when the 76-year-old Beitar clubhouse -- home to the club’s trophies -- was burned to the ground. Extremist fans are suspected.
After this, team management and the government decided to take a hard line.
“The police are taking this very seriously,” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said. “People who would burn an office are not fans, they are dangerous criminals.”
Abir Sutan / EPA
Meir Harush, one of the board members of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team, looks over the damage after a fire destroyed the club's history room on Feb. 8. Right-wing extremist fans opposed to a decision by the club owner to sign two Muslim Chechen players are thought to have been responsible.
Bernat Armangue / AP
Burned soccer club trophies won by Beitar Jerusalem are seen after the fire.
Beitar chairman Itzik Kornfein pledged to hold firm too, according to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot.
“We took an important step and we’re moving forward. In the end, all the fans will understand that this is a done deal and there’s no turning back,” he said, referring to the signing of the Muslim players.
“No turning back” took the form of 400 police officers and 200 private security guards sent to secure a Feb. 10 game between Beitar and the Arab-Israeli club Bnei Sakhnin.
Bernat Armangue / AP
Players Zaur Sadayev, center, and Gabriel Kadiev, background, seen after a press conference, have been subjected to abuse from their own fans.
Despite the security, some Beitar fans hurled abuse about Sadayev and Kadiev as well as the Arab team.
When Kadiev entered the game in the 79th minute, fans from La Familia cursed and booed him, but thousands of other supporters cheered him.
Abir Sultan / EPA
An Israeli fan of Beitar Jerusalem soccer team wearing an Israel flag during the game Sunday.
On the other side, fans from Bnei Sakhnin whistled during the Israeli national anthem.
Two Israeli and three Arab fans were arrested and are awaiting indictment for violent actions during the game.
Abir Sultan / EPA
Muslim supporters of the Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin football team cheer after their team scores in Sunday's game.
Bernat Armangue / AP
Israeli security forces detain Bnei Sakhnin supporters during a game against Beitar Jerusalem on Sunday.
Abir Sultan / EPA
Israeli border police stand guard during the game Sunday.
Leave a Comment:
There have always been soccer hooligans who are an embarrassment to the team they root for. Pretty much the same in any game. These so called fans simply needed an excuse to act like criminals and idiots. The team owner obviously interested in only the money was stupid to the nth degree. Absolutely awful behavior on everyone's part.
This isn't about soccer fans, it's about Isreal's true identity as racist to the core
Agreed. It's laid out quite explicitly in the Talm1ud.
Sounds to me more like YOU, Joe F and Joe Shabbadoo, are the "racists to the core" and the Israelis are like people in countries the world over, consisting of those few like you who exist to hate, and more like the thousands who cheered Kadiev, moving forward with the knowledge we must accept if we are to survive.
There are racist in all parts of the world, specially in Israel. These are their equivalent of our skin heads or KKK. It all starts and ends with leadership to curtail these elements, sadly Bibi and his ideology is more part of the problem than the solution.
I just do not understand this whole Isreal - Arab thing, They are ALL sons of Abraham and Believe in the same God, yet act like one is the Europeans and the other being the Native Americans.
This is more proof that religion promotes hatred and intolerance. Religion is one more time going to bring our world into another war.
@ Justiceforall - no these folks are not the same as the KKK or skinheads. You don't see the KKK or skinheads at American sporting events booing or burning down the clubhouse when blacks or others they don't like are on the field. Yes all the groups mentioned are racist, but they don't act the same.
@ Willowbrook thats because as a society and our leaders are way way way ahead of what we see in Israel. There is no such thing as tolerance in Israel. Arabs, specially Muslims are treated in Israel today like African Americans were treated during the civil rights era.
Given that the Jews have been hunted, relocated, terrorized, faced genocide, (not just once but many times through the centuries), and somehow managed to survive, it is understandable that some Jews focus on the Arabs to hate.
The history of the Jews went way South after they rebelled against Rome, because the Romans were, at the time, going through a metamorphosis from Conquering Empire to Holy Empire. The Romans needed a common enemy for the people to hate and who better than the race that Killed Christ? The evolved Roman church even made a deal with the Devil in the form of the NAZIs much later to offer the Jews as a sacrifice for the protection of the NAZIs should they win the War. I wonder why the Pope was not on trial at Nuremberg?
As everyone who reads history knows, the old wounds fester and make us sick much later. But the recent wounds are the ones the young people see and know. Arabs and Muslims all agree on one thing, they want Israel dead and gone so they can claim the riches of the lands and people. The story is an old one that has been seen many times especially with the Roman Catholic Church.
From the time the Roman Church was come to inception it was rife with every kind of sin and despotism. At the time the Romans were wanting to be the dominate religion of the Western lands of Europe, they had two major rivals. The Arabs, known as Saracens, and the Cathars. The Roman Catholics had a method of using fear of death and torture to empower themselves. They used the Royal families and the commoners who saw a chance to gain wealth in the conquest of the Cathars. I will not go into the history, but google it as it is truly interesting reading that gives us a picture of where our current faith comes from.
Suffice it to say, that the complete and total genocide of anyone who suscribed to the Cathar Religion was wiped off the face of the Earth. After reading about the Religion, I can see how people were attracted to it especially after comparing it to the Catholics.
The hatred of the soccer Players need to stop at the highest levels of the Israeli government. I would suggest that the president would come forward to hug the two players on national TV and proclaim that if he had sons, THEY WOULD LOOK JUST LIKE THESE TWO YOUNG MEN.
I made a joke (haha), but I am serious about the wave of hatred that comes from war. Everyone on this God forsaken Earth has someone to hate, but not everyone hates. The haters need to take a lesson from the nonhaters and start a new day.
Lazarus
Anyone who has read the Talmud would know this behavior is not indicative of Jewish values. Anyone who calls this bad behavior by Jews does not know the difference between a Zionist and a Jew. I am a supporter of Israel and this behavior is not indicative of Israel or Jews. It is indicative of a few bad actors who are racist against Arabs. Israel need to investigate and take legal action against the perpetrators.
RACISM???? I was not aware that either Judaism or Islam was a race.
Re-emergence of Nazism in Germany and Western Europe, virulent anti-Semitism and anti-Arab sentiments in the Middle East, countless examples of racist/nationalist/religious jingoism all over the world. Countless wars over the centuries and STILL there is a hard core of bigots that don't get it. I'm not expecting a touchy-feely, P.C. world where everyone lives in Disney-like harmony (although that would be nice), just a modicum of tolerance for the beliefs and values of others and an end to hate based on nothing more than perceived slights and misplaced prejudice. I just don't believe in hating someone "just because" without even giving them a chance to show what kind of human beings they are. The next world war, if we're stupid enough to allow one, won't count the dead in millions but in billions and could well mark the end of us as a species. The only effective weapon against this type of creeping rot is for all reasonable people everywhere to stand up and say "Enough" and make it clear there is no room for it in the kind of world we want and deserve. ENOUGH.
They sugarcoated this article. Just a few months ago on here,and more importantly Haaretz in Israel ran stories about the racism of Beitar fans.Mobs of them attacking Arab workers and the few Jews that tried to stop them.A scene straight out of a pre-war Nazi mob,or white mob during the civil rights movement seen on documentaries.
The burning of the club house is an act of terrorism.
Oh, sorry - Jewish people can't be terrorists. That term's reserved for Arabs/Muslims.
As the article states, these were "extremists". There is no such thing as a Jewish terrorist.
The sad part is that much of the youth in Israel has been polluted with racism. Any hope for elimination of racism/apartheid/segregation in Israel is dependent upon the progressive youth of the country - but too many of them in Israel have been brain-washed with the hard-line racism (like these soccer "fans").
I know....here it comes. I'm a Nazi. Bring out your buzzwords: Holocaust/Hitler/Anit-Semitism. I know, I know. I've heard it a million times.
Of course there is however when its sponsored by the state, they are referred to as extremist.
I know American citizens of Arab decent that were treated like blacks were treated in the 40s when they have gone through Israel. Israel was also the last state to support the aparteid govt. of South Africa. Just facts.
No, it's not antisemitic. It is antizionism. The government of Israel teaches zionism and hatred for others, especially muslims. I have many Jewish friends who are also against zionism - will they be called antisemitic? And are Avi Shlaim, Noam Chomsky, Tanya Reinhart, Neve Gordon, Tom Segev, Uri Avnery, Ilan Pappé and Norman Finkelstein called antisemitic (all Jewish)?
One of the saddest videos I ever saw were 2 Israeli soldiers being interviewed by an Israeli TV station in which they said after killing a Muslim mother in Gaza in front of her husband and children that they were there to "exterminate the Muslims". Israel censored this report, but the TV station ran it anyway.
Zionism does not call for "extermination of Arabs" or a "pure Jewish state".
All it calls for is for Jews to have a state in their historical homeland, nothing more.
One would not have a problem with that unless they are antisemitic.
The burning of the club was indeed a despicable act, but anyone who is jumping on this act to call Israel "racist state" is a hypocrite.
Someone who is truly pro-equality would acknowledge that the club did accept Muslim players ,a nd the official Israeli team included Muslim players for ages.
Joe that's an ignorant statement and its antisemitic as well. Masking your bigotry by calling other's bigots doesn't really work.
In any case there are extremist on all sides!
You know imagineonce kiss my behind. Nobody was antisemitic they are expressing an opinion. It is crap that if anyone say anything against Israel they are antisemitic. Put your big boy pants on you damn sissy
Just like I said - bring out the buzzwords. Any criticism of a single Israeli person is "antisemitic" (even if the Jewish people aren't semites, but that's a whole other topic).
I talked about some of the polluted Israeli youth - that was it. Now how, might I ask, is that bigoted/racist/anti-semitic?
Not "any criticism" only the hypocritical criticism.
You concentrated on an act committed by a few extremists (terrorists if you prefer), with clear intention of drawing attention away form the just and progressive policy to which those terrorists were reacting.
That is indeed bigotry disguised in hypocrisy.
Hmm maybe it's just a Joe thing in this thread
The best way to show the team what you think is go to the game or stay home. If enough people stay home it would not be such a done deal as stated. Do not given in to negative action such as throwing things, burning down....that gives the team what it needs to continue. Stay home and keep your money there. The so done deal will be undone when the money runs low.
Ban soccer. Ban interfaith teams everywhere. Promote hatred of other religions. Promote hatred of other countries. Promote hatred of teams better then yours. Promote hatred among the fans. Promote hatred of teams from other countries. Promote hatred of people who hated you first. Promote hatred of people who don't hate anyone, because they probably know something you don't. Hatred sells weapons, and that's keeping Russia, China, Iran and Sudan solvent.
"The uneducated and the misinformed are easily led astray." -- John Mellencamp.
Are you going to start with black and hispanic organizations that "promote" the same things in America? How about Black History Month? Let's not just celebrate a PERSON who made great contributions to society, let's just celebrate the fact that they were black. How about hispanic-only days/months, how about black and hispanice "civic" organizations/parades? Oh yeah, in America we call it being PC, not racist! All these "celebrations" do is promote hatred and separatism.
You have to wonder about the writer of this article and their motives.. and why a soccor game in Isreal would all of a sudden be of interest...as well as the use of the word extremist when talking about Israelis...It sounds like deflecting to me.
These people have learned nothing from history. Some day they are doomed to repeat it.
Soccer fosters hatred and violence all over the world. It's, evidently, a very emotional sport, not to mention boringgggggggggggggg.
These are "Fans???" My brother is allegedly an OU Sooners fan, except when the team doesn't play well, then he becomes an "extremist" and hurls all kinds of abusive words at the TV screen. But he's never tried to attack anyone on that team or burn anything down (granted, OU players would not respond well to such an attack, and they're pretty big guys, just sayin'....).
With people of such Violent nature maybe Ice Hockey would be better than Soccer.
ACTUALLY, Israel is a VERY racist state. The Jews despise the Muslims. Not that they don't have a right to be angry, but then again so do the Muslims or Christians that are beaten by the Jews in the area.
Israel is George Bush.
It's a GAME, people! Who cares what the religious beliefs are of any given particular person? As long as they just show up, play the game to the best of their ability, and goes home...who cares?
It's Hitlerism all over again...if you don't have the same hair color, skin color, same belief system, same clothes, ad infinitum...you're not allowed to play a GAME? Are you serious? No matter what God you believe in, I'd like to be there when you explain your "reasoning" for not letting someone play a GAME! Ridiculous..
Another Munich in the making perchance? The 2 muslim players wire themselves with bombs. While playing soccer, they detonate the bombs murdering the other Israeli soccer players and fans. Hamas and/or Hezbollah celebrating the murders. It can and will happen.
Do you even know what happened in Munich? It is nowhere near what you described.
This may be one of the most insane comments I've read on here and I can't beleive no one responded.
So, you think these 2 guys will be in the locker room getting ready for the game and they'll just wire a bomb to themself in the locker room?
You realize that these 2 athletes are actually risking their lives walking on the field to play? You see where the "fans" of the Iraeli team throws rocks on the field at players? It's much more likely to think some "fan" would bring a gun to a game and shoot them then to ever think they'd attach a bomb to themself in the locker room.
Ok now we know we are supporting criminals in middle east who are also racists.
I do not care what the f*ck Israelis are; But we should not give aid to these misfits.
As usual, you are quick to delude yourself, Sikkie.
If every country who that had racist scandals in sports was ruled off as "racist", that label would've spread over the whole world, starting with your beloved Arab states.
USA will keep giving aid to Israel because it's good for USA and because it's the right thing to do, and if you don't like that, that's even better.
I am wating with bated breath for the article that covers any Islamic country's efforts to recruit Israeli players.
On that day I will grab my bag of pixie dust and have my unicorn fly around dispersing same on rainbows!
Ah yes another religion of "peace".
...Do we judge the English people and government by the worst of their soccer "fans"? So why are some idiots judging the Israelis by the worst of theirs?
...Once South Africa became integrated... many blacks wanted to disband the soccer team and form a new one. In part because it served as a point of focus for those hard line whites who did not accept the change. At first, only one black on the team... it would take years of scouting and recruitment to gradually change the complexion of the team...
...But Nelson Mandella had decided that he was the President of *all* of South Africa... not just the blacks... He refused to disband the team or even change their name. He walked on the field at some games and shook hands with all of the players. At first this caused massive dissention among many in his political party... but ultimately his party... and most of the die-hards in the stands rallied around him and the country's team.
...Peace is always at the mercy of fools. Those who pioneer rational change are often targets of the worst elements...
Israel the "ally" of the USA is as always in the midst of issues. The ally that gets 3.5 Billion annually for more than 30 years now and many many forgiven loans amounting to many more Billions. The "ally" that conducts the largest espionage campaign against the USA, The "ally" that attacked the USS Liberty. The "ally" that built walls hiding entrances to nuclear development facilities in order to fool weapons inspectors. The ally that funds AIPAC & the ADL to lobby and spy for any cause advancing Israeli interest.
Unfortunately, that is true.
US support for Israel as an "ally" is as appropriate as Pope dating lady gaga..
Good things you guys do not represent USA, so you don't deside what's appropriate for us.
These hooligans are not Jews. They're goyim who don't represent any ideals of the Jewish nation. They are an insult to our ancient history and disproportionate contribution to all the world.
Hey, Ahmad! This article is about football and the racism that is spreading from Eastern Europe and Italy to the Middle East.
Am Israel cha'i!
After over sixty years of Muslims chanting death to the Jews, is it any surprise that this is happening? With Israel surrounded by Muslims who don't believe Israel should exist for the Jews is it any surprise that Jewish youth would gravitate toward a group that offers them the ability to say we will fight back. Racist? Yes. Self preservation? Yes.
fight for zionist freedom
zionists are synonymous with racists.
Thats rich coming from the most racist of all groups Muslims
I like how the anti Israel, anti Jewish media picks on this story and makes it a major headline. An act of hatred conducted in a once-in-a-lifetime situation by a few soccer fans. Now all of a sudden all Israelis and Jews are hate mongers. And yet, the same media fails to report that the Palestinians teach their kids, in schools, that all Jews should be eliminated. They even have TV shows with Mickey Mouse extolling the virtues of committing terrorist acts. These are daily hatred incitements going on in the Palestinian society. Why is there no mention of that at all????
Once in a lifetime ? Are you serious ?
9/11 was a Mossad operation and they were all arrested that day for their sloppy behavior, but of course powerful elites had the Dept. of Justice quietly release Yaron Shmuel, Oded Ellner and others back to Israel.
Ground Zero: "The direct positioning of nuclear demolition charges".
~Websters dictionary, 1944-2001 (quickly revised after 9/11).
I'm always glad I'm not the only one who remembers that and how it disappeared from any account of that day.
Why do we fund this country again?
Because we were instrumental in establishing this country in this area. We have a long-standing obligation because of that.
Hypocrites. I started reading the article on the neo-nazis and their anti-semitism against jews and I stumbled across this article. You can't have it both ways israel.
As a soccer player in American(high school) during the early 60's I am happy to report that I hated everyone I ever played against. I was an equal opportunist. But after I won or lost I would go out of my way to shake my opponents hand.