Racist Israeli Soccer Fans Protest Muslim Players
Anti-Muslim: Fans of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team unfurl banner denouncing club?s signing of two Muslim players. Image by getty images
Fans of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team are protesting team owner Russian-Israeli tycoon Arkadi Gaydamak’s decision to hire two Muslim players.
Fans on the evening of Jan. 25 during a Premier League game against Bnei Yehuda at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem protested the move to bring two players from the Chechen Terek Gorzny team to Beitar Jerusalem in the coming days.
Three fans were arrested during the game for chanting anti-Muslim slogans. A sign reading “Beitar will be pure forever” was unfurled during the game.
“The two players from Chechnya are coming to Beitar. As far as I’m concerned, there is no difference between a Jewish player and a Muslim player,” Gaydamak told Ynet in an interview.
In March, 2012, hundreds of Beitar Jerusalem fans chanting anti-Arab slogans assaulted Arab workers at a Jerusalem mall following a game. Sixteen fans were arrested; six were banned from future games.
"Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief"
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
