Israeli Soccer Team Penalized for Fans' Anit-Islamic Chants

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Defending soccer champion Beitar Jerusalem has been ordered to play a home match in an empty stadium and was penalized a point after fans shouted anti-Muslim slogans. The censure is the latest in a long-standing battle over complaints that the soccer club permits a derisive culture of racism among its fans, notorious for their strong nationalistic fervor and fondness for anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and racist chants.

Beitar Jerusalem is the only soccer club in Israel never to have taken on an Arab player. The penalty, handed down late last week by the Israeli Football Association, was in response to complaints that large numbers of Beitar fans were heard singing chants insulting the Prophet Muhammad during a game last month."

<snip>

"It is hardly the first time Beitar Jerusalem has been punished by the Israeli Football Association. There is a long history of discord between Beitar Jerusalem and Israeli authorities and the club has been punished for various offences on more than 20 occasions since 2005. Among behavior that has become commonplace at Beitar Jerusalem games, fans make monkey noises at African players on the opposing team, shout "terrorist" at Arab players, and sing popular, rhyming chants including "death to Arabs," "The prophet Mohammed is dead," and a Hebrew rhyme calling for a successful Arab player to be stricken with cancer. There is a chant praising Saddam Hussein for bombing Tel Aviv, host to Beitar Jerusalem's archrivals, and both the players and fans of opposing teams frequently need to be escorted by armed police as they enter Jerusalem. The club was already forced to play a game in an empty stadium last year following an incident similar to that of last month in which fans sang songs defaming the Prophet Muhammad. The club retorted that such chants were in response to chants of "Alla hu Akbar" by the Arab fans of their opponent.

The Israeli Football Association determined that the former chant was racist with anti-Muslim undertones, while the latter, in praise of God, was not racist. "In many ways this is a phenomenon that the team owner and managers enjoy," Dr Yair Galily, a sports sociologist at the Wingate Institute in Israel, told The Media Line. "They can live with the bad press because this is what fans want and they benefit financially from it. "Over the last two or three years, the management has tried to stop the racist chanting," Galily continued, "but there is a kind of love-hate relationship between the fans and management and there has not been much success." Historically linked to the right-wing, ultra-nationalist Beitar political movement, Beitar Jerusalem fans drew extensive criticism two years ago when they booed during a moment of silence held at a game in memory of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated by a right-wing extremist in 1995. "For many years Beitar has been identified with the radical right," Galily said of the team's politics. "As other football teams in Israel become more commercial, Beitar remains the only team with a direct political identity. Galily added that the link between Beitar Jerusalem and Israeli politics was a kind of Gordian knot.

"Political candidates, including our current and previous prime ministers, have all benefited from their association with Beitar."

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7015012758

[Howardx]

1. "fondness for anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and racist chants."

always considered very progressive, democrats everywhere support that sort of thing.

[LeftishBrit]

2. To a Brit, 'Beitar' seems to be the Hebrew for 'Millwall' (even worse in fact)

Unfortunately, once a particular football team is known to attract young racist hooligans, this tends to become self-fulfilling. And has, in a number of cases.

[shaayecanaan]

3. One of their chants is "Kale, chief of staff of IDF"

Their goalkeeper is a Croat called Kale. He became popular amongst the Beitar firm "La Familia" by suggesting that Israel should kill and destroy its enemies as the Croats had done.

That a significant number of the people that the Croats had killed and destroyed were Jewish seems to have escaped the historical sensibilities of most of Beitar's fans.

[oberliner]

4. Where do you get this information from about the chant?

Have you been to any matches yourself?

Is there a Youtube video of this or something?

[shaayecanaan]

5. a) yes b) don't know

I don't even know if he is their goalie any more

[shaayecanaan]

6. actually, thanks to the miracle of the interwebs...

there is actually a reference to it here:-

http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10210

[oberliner]

7. Really interesting piece

Thanks for the link!

[ProgressiveMuslim]

8. Hmm...what would happen if a stadium full of fans chanted "death to Jews."

Interesting to consider, isn't it?

I doubt very much the "soccer fans will be soccer fans" or "the fans on both sides enjoy it" justification mentioned above would be an acceptable reaction.

[oberliner]

9. What would happen? It happens regularly

There was a recent report addressing the problem of anti-semitic chants among soccer fans in Europe.

In the UK, the report says, fans of Arsenal chanted "Send the Jews to Auschwitz."

More details:

http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Article.aspx?id=747190

And there is a similar justification:

“The trouble, I believe, comes from the same illiterate thug element that has historically given black players a hard time and is now currently preoccupied with anti-Semitic chants.

“It is not representative at all of the fans as a whole,” said Walters.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

12. Very interesting. It must be hard for Jewish people to get up in arms about it when Israeli fans do

the same behavior toward Arab players.

[oberliner]

13. Why must that be hard?

What do the actions of Israeli soccer fans have to do with Jewish people in Europe?

[ProgressiveMuslim]

14. The weirdness and irony of that really escapes you? nt

[oberliner]

15. You are saying that "it must be hard" for Jews in Europe to get upset about anti-semitic chants

It is beyond bizarre to claim that the actions of Israeli soccer fans somehow make it hard for Jewish fans in Europe to get up in arms about these chants.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

16. Really? you don't think it's hard to point the finger when your own ethnic group is involved

in the same ugly racist behavior?

[ProgressiveMuslim]

17. As a Philly sports fan, I take comfort in knowing that fans in Israel & England make us look like

angels by comparison.

[LeftishBrit]

18. It's not "your own (entire) ethnic group"; it's a particular group of football hooligans

By that argument, a British person who'd been robbed in (say) Russia, would have no redress if it turned out that a Russian person had been robbed in Britain.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

19. It's a shame they can't all be like Philly sports fans, and stick to throwing snowballs at Santa .

[oberliner]

20. Of course not

That is honestly one of the most preposterous things I have ever seen written here.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

21. Really?

We're reminded here on a weekly basis of the evils of anti-semitism. I have no problem with that. But you don't find it ironic that in the Jewish homeland -- created to be a safe haven from anti-semitism -- racist slurs that are just as ugly or uglier (death to the Arabs!) are a regular occurence in exactly the same kind of venue?

Maybe it's just me, but I find that kind of ironic.

In any case, I'm sure you find both equally distasteful, as I do.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

22. Point me at one ethnic group that doesn't engage in racist behaviour.

It would be hard to point the finger when *you yourself* are/have been engaged in ugly racist behaviour, but the fact that other people from the same ethnic group as you have been is neither here nor there.

[LeftishBrit]

10. It isn't acceptable, but it happens!

Racism and football hooliganism often go together.

Britain and other Europaean countries have longstanding problems with football fans shouting racial abuse, among other forms of nasty behaviour. Racism against non-white people is the commonest; but antisemitism is also well-known in this context.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

11. More likely this is deeply held European anti-semitism, which has never been addressed.

That is truly shocking.

[shaayecanaan]

23. No, its more the theatre of football...

The two biggest teams in the Scottish Premier League are the Celtics and Rangers. The former attracts Catholic fans and the latter Protestant. The teams invariably meet in a heavily sectarian final where mutual insults are traded like biscuits.

Then the same people put down the brickbats and go back to dealing with each other as they normally do. Its sometimes called the phenomenon of the "90-minute sectarian".

[shaayecanaan]

24. Beitar chants...

I remembered this one from the match:-

Arabs smell like camel shit
They haven't got much class
They don't know that Muhhammed's gay
he takes it up the arse - HEY!

You have to admit that is funny. It is the juxtaposition of the jaunty tune and the outrageous lyrics that creates the comedy.