Israel Capt. Denies Anti-Semitism But Eyes U.S.

Just Like They Pictured It: Yossi Benayoun, Eli Guttman and Tal Ben-Haim in New York on May 31. Image by Courtesy Schnur Associates
Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun says he is “trying everything to play in the MLS next season” ahead of the Israeli national team’s soccer friendly against Honduras in New York on Sunday, June 2. The game, Israel’s first in New York for over 35 years, will take place at Citi Field, after the annual Celebrate Israel parade.
The English Premier League star, who won a Europa League champions medal with London giants Chelsea this season, said that he is currently in talks with several clubs. His contract expires in June and “playing in America is one of my favorite options and I am trying everything to find a team in the MLS.”
The Israeli national team captain, and former Liverpool and Arsenal player, denied that his wishes to leave the English Premier League are a result of his being a repeated target of anti-Semitic hate speech on Twitter from British fans, saying that he thinks “the whole issue was exaggerated.” Benayoun continued to say that “there are racist people all over the world, even in Israel, and I don’t pay attention to those people no matter where I play.”
Another Israeli star who is expecting to take his talents to the MLS is defender Tal Ben-Haim, currently with the just-relegated EPL team Queens Park Rangers. The former Chelsea and Bolton player is reported to be in advanced negotiations with the Canadian MLS team Toronto FC, coached by his former Q.P.R teammate Ryan Nielsen.
Ben Haim, who was also a subject of anti-Semitic abuse on his club’s official Facebook page earlier this year, said in the press conference in midtown Manhattan today that he “spent a couple of days in Toronto meeting with the team’s coach, owner and chief executive and I was very impressed.”
The press conference was held ahead of the game organized by the French Jewish entrepreneur Pierre Mevi Azaria, who said that if he sees this game is successful, he “plans to try and bring the Israeli national team to other major cities that have a big Jewish population and that would otherwise never get to see the Israeli team.” It is also preparation for Israel’s three upcoming qualifying games for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Azaria, who reportedly paid more than $100K to bring the Israeli national team to play in New York, said “he hopes to at least break even with the event” saying he believes he will sell at least 25,000 tickets to the match Sunday, but claimed that he “won’t be surprised if the event ends up to be sold out.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Opinion In Trump’s war against campus antisemitism, hate the tactics but don’t ignore the problem
-
Yiddish כ׳בענק נאָך די וועלטלעכע ייִדן וואָס האָבן אָפּגעריכט אַ טראַדיציאָנעלן סדר Longing for those secular Jews who led a traditional seder
מײַן פֿעטער יונה האָט נישט געהיט שבת און כּשרות אָבער בײַם אָפּריכטן דעם סדר האָט ער געקלונגען ווי אַ פֿרומער ייִד
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.