FIFA anti-racism campaign has work cut out for it in the Middle East

Iranian coach Firouz Karimi (right) banned for racism

By James M. Dorsey and Amir Khalinejad

World soccer body FIFA’s newly established anti-racism committee has its work cut out for it in the Middle East and North Africa where ironically only Israel and Iran have taken some, albeit too few, steps to counter discrimination based on color, religion, ethnicity or sex.

In countering racism and discrimination in the Middle East, FIFA faces not only racist outbursts by fans, players and officials on the pitch but often a structure and unwritten policies that are inherently discriminatory.

In the latest incident of racism, Iran’s soccer federation this month banned Paykan FC coach Firouz Karimi for eight games and fined him $3,000 for calling Dutch player of African descent Sendley Sidney Bito a cannibal and a Negro and refusing to shake his hand.

“I only tried to express my respect toward Karimi. I offered him hand shake, but it seems he was angry with the result.” Mr. Bito told reporters referring to the defeat of Paykan which was last month relegated to the second division by his Fajr FC team. Karimi justified his refusal with the fact that Iranian culture dictates that the older person initiate a handshake.A video of the incident has gone viral on the Internet with fans organizing campaigns against racism despite a crackdown on access to the Web that makes it difficult for Iranians in the Islamic republic to access popular social media websites.

The sanctioning by the Iranian soccer federation is in stark contrast to it its turning a blind eye to regular denunciations as donkeys of players and supporters of Traktor Sazi FC, the club based in Tabriz, the capital of Iranian Azerbaijan, widely seen as a potent projection of Azeri ethnic and national identity. “Wherever Tractor goes, fans of the opposing club chant insulting slogans. They imitate the sound of donkeys, because Azerbaijanis are historically derided as stupid and stubborn. I remember incidents going back to the time that I was a teenager,” said a long-standing observer of Iranian soccer. The Iranian federation’s neglect is tied to the government’s crackdown on anything that reeks of separatism.

Similarly, a recent rejection of two Chechen Muslim players because of their religion by militant, racist supporters of Beitar Jerusalem, the only club in Israel to refuse Palestinian players, sparked outrage in Israel but little effort to force the club to put an end to its discriminatory hiring policies. The outrage was rooted in the militants’ use of Third Reich terminology by vowing to keep their club pure and by the fact that it countered a long-standing pillar of Israeli policy that seeks to forge close ties with its neighbors’ neighbors in the absence of relations with a majority of Arab states.

To be sure, the Israeli soccer federation, the only FIFA member in the region with a long-standing anti-racism campaign has repeatedly slapped Beitar, which has close ties with Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s Likud, on its fingers but has refrained from insisting that the club adhere to the country’s anti-discrimination laws. To the credit of Beitar owner Arcadi Gaydamak, the acquisition of the Chechens was in part designed to break the militants’ hold on the club and to pave the way for Palestinian players by first hiring non-Arab Muslim ones.

Similarly, Hany Ramzy, the coach of Egypt’s Olympic soccer team who is credited with Egypt’s winning of the 1998 Africa Cup of Nations championship, returned to Egypt from last year’s London games a soccer hero and a model in a country and a region in which identity politics rather national identity often governs the beautiful game. A Coptic Christian and one-time legendary national soccer team captain of a squad whose former national coach Hassan Shehata established Muslim piety as a criterion for membership equal to skill, Mr. Ramzy, symbolized what is possible as well as the immense problems Middle Eastern and North African nations have in coming to grips with their ethnic and religious minorities.

Mr. Ramzy is one of the few if not the only Coptic Egyptian national team player in past decades. He is the exception that proves the rule in a country in which the Coptic Church has its own Copts-only soccer teams. Mr. Ramzy is believed to owe his success to a significant extent to the fact that he earned prestige by being hired by various European teams, including Neuchâtel Xamax, Werder Bremen and Kaiserslautern.

“In Egypt, there is a problem that many people don't even consider. This problem relates to not allowing the Copts to play in the national teams of sports, especially soccer which is the most popular game in Egypt. Marginalization of young Copts by the Football Association and the administrations of Egyptian clubs resulted in having no Coptic players in the core teams. Youth teams have very few Copts and they are laid off as soon as they reach certain age and never take the chance to promote,” said Safwat Freeze Ghali, writing on the website of Copts United.

Charging that soccer discrimination against Copts encourages discrimination by Muslims and anger and hate among Copts, who account for some 10 per cent of all Egyptians, Mr. Ghali spoke out of personal experience.

“I suffered from this problem with my son who was born in 1995 and has a great talent in soccer. Many people have said so after they saw him playing. My son then started in a small club, but never took a chance to play. His coach treats him so badly and his colleagues make fun of his Christian name. His coach told him: I won't let you touch the ball (play in the team) and never ask me why! We got fed up and I took him to a bigger club and they liked him very much and promised to recruit him but they never did. Then, I moved him to another club where they liked him too, but when the coach knew his name (a Christian name), he said: We'll see, later!” Mr. Ghali wrote.

Journalist Mustafa Abdelhalim in an analysis published by Common Ground suggested that an interfaith soccer day on the eve of the London Olympics could serve as an example for Egypt and for that matter the rest of North Africa and the Middle East.  “In June 2012 London’s Wembley Stadium was the site of a ‘faith and football’ day that united students from Muslim, Christian and Jewish schools. This event was planned by the Three Faiths Forum (3FF), a UK-based organization dedicated to building relationships between people of all faiths, and the UK Football Association, which officially oversees the sport in the country. Egyptians could replicate this example by creating nationwide leagues to promote intergroup and interfaith cooperation. These teams could include anyone who wants to participate in the sport and make Egyptians’ shared interest in sports a tool for a more inclusive society,” Mr. Abdelhalim wrote

In Turkey, a predominantly Muslim nation with both a European and a Middle Eastern heritage, referee Halil Ibrahim Dincbag campaigns for gay rights. Mr. Dincbag took the Turkish soccer association to court for allegedly outing him by leaking that he had been exempted from military services on the grounds of homosexuality and then dismissing him despite the fact that Turkey has legally enshrined gay rights.

Mr. Dincdag’s decision not to go quietly is nevertheless no mean feat in a country rife with homophobia where spectators decry opposing players and referees whose decisions they dislike as faggots. Dincdag hails from Trabzon, a Black Sea city known for its legendary soccer club, its fanatical football fans and hot-tempered, explosive inhabitants who are quicker with a knife than with their wits. "I could have left the country, or disputed everything," Dincdag said. "But I knew the media wouldn't let it go. So I decided to tell the truth -- yes, I'm the gay ref you're looking for."

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog. Amir Khalinejad is a Tehran-based freelance journalist.

Militant Jerusalem fans challenge founding principle of Israeli foreign policy

Beitar fans insist that their club remain racially pure (Source: Reuters)

By James M. Dorsey

When militant supporters of right-wing soccer club Beitar Jerusalem last month vowed to keep their team pure in protest against the hiring of two Chechen Muslim players they went beyond what are usually accepted expressions of racism in Israel to unwittingly challenge a founding principle of Israeli foreign and defense policy coined by the country’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion: the need to ally Israel with non-Arab Muslim nations to compensate historically for the lack of and more recently uncertainty of its relations with Arab neighbors.

In doing so, they provoked a rare national outcry against the club’s racist policy – Beitar Jerusalem is the only top league club to have never hired a Palestinian player despite the fact that Palestinians rank among the country’s top performers – that in many ways reflected last month’s outcome of national elections and a growing awareness that Israeli policies are alienating even its closest allies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party emerged narrowly as the winner from an election that showed Israel deeply divided between the right and the left.

In an illustration of Beitar’s importance to the Israeli right, two right-wing Israeli parliamentarians, Michael Ben-Ari, a former member of assassinated right-wing rabbi Meir Kahana, and Aryeh Eldad of Otzma L’Israel, attended a Beitar match on the eve of the elections in a bid to garner suoppert.

The outcry nevertheless included denunciations by Mr. Netanyahu himself, like many right-wing Israeli leaders, a staunch supporter of Beitar, the storied bad boy of Israeli soccer. It also reflected however unease among significant segments of Israeli public opinion with their country’s increasing isolation sparked by controversy over Israel’s settlement policy; mounting criticism of the treatment of prisoners, including last year’s release of a hunger striking Palestinian national soccer team player as a result of international pressure; and the rupture in relations with Turkey in the wake of the killing of nine Turks aboard the Mavi Marmara as it sought to break Israel’s sea blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The prisoner issue threatened this weekend to explode with thousands of Palestinian prisoners staging a 24-hour hunger strike and hundreds of Palestinians demonstrating in the wake of the death of a 30-year year old Palestinian arrested on charges of stone-throwing while he was in Israeli custody. Palestinian officials warned that the prisoner’s death could be the spark that ignites the powder keg of discontent on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.

Conditions in Israeli prisons have further undermined Israel’s relations with its staunch ally Australia, already strained by the use in 2010 of Australian passports by Israeli agents believed to have been responsible for the killing of a Hamas operative in Dubai, after news leaked earlier this month of the death in Israeli custody of an Australian national, Ben Zygier. Mr. Zygier reportedly was an operative of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, who allegedly was on the verge of revealing details of Israel’s use of foreign passports in its covert operations.

Australia, in an unprecedented break with past unrestricted support of Israel, last year joined 26 of the 27 members of the European Union who either voted in favor or abstained from voting for a United Nations General Assembly resolution recognizing Palestinian statehood. “In a world so interconnected and interdependent, Israel cannot afford to lose the international legitimacy that flows from a readiness to make peace. There are myriad obstacles to an agreement with the Palestinians – many of them on the Palestinian side. But Mr. Netanyahu has redefined the issue in international opinion as one essentially of Israeli intransigence,” said columnist Philip Stephens in this weekend’s Financial Times.

The current outcry stems from the fact that a militant segment of Beitar’s supporters rejected the club’s hiring of two non-Arab Muslim players, who moreover hail from a region that Mr. Ben Gurion would have defined as part of the non-Arab Muslim periphery, which Israel has always sought to engage. It comes amid growing concern in Israel about mounting soccer violence that is not always related to Israel’s dispute with the Arab and much of the Muslim world.

The outcry over racism expressed towards the two Chechen players contrasts starkly with the lack of a national response to past outbursts by militant fans, including an attack on Palestinian shoppers and workers in a Jerusalem mall as well as Jewish musician who denounced their attitudes and Beitar’s refusal to hire Palestinian striker Mohammed Ghadir who in late 2011 volunteered to join the club in a challenge to its anti-Palestinian policy.

Despite the fact that the militant fans’ language and symbolism at times is reminiscent of that of the Third Reich – fans unfurled a banner with their demand to keep their club pure that was reminiscent of those employed by the Nazis – Beitar until recently defended rather than condemned its most extreme supporters. The long overdue outcry is moreover itself not free of racial attitudes.

To be sure, President Shimon Peres appealed in a strongly worded letter to Israel Football Association president Avi Luzon “to all football fans to refrain from all expressions and manifestations of racism in football stadiums and outside of them.  Racism has struck the Jewish people harder than any other nation in the world.  The authorities must prevent it before it starts. Today, sport is a universal declaration against racism. It is unacceptable for the opposite to take place in Israel.”

Mr. Peres’ appeal however hit deaf ears within Beitar. While the club’s owner, Russian-born Arkady Gaydamak, echoed the president’s remarks, Beitar coach Eli Cohen drew a distinction between Arabs and Muslim in a perversion of Mr. Ben Gurion’s principle. "I don't understand the fans who don't want to see a Muslim player in Beitar. There are a billion Muslims in the world and we must learn how to live with them. There is a difference between a European Muslim and an Arab Muslim, and the fans here have a problem with Arabs living in the Middle East,” Mr. Cohen.said.

The club’s spokesman, Assaf Shaked, went as far as explicitly defending its anti-Arab policy. “We are against racism and against violence and we pay a price for our fans. But we aren’t going to bring an Arab player just to annoy the fans,” Mr. Shaked said.

The row over Beitar’s racism goes to the heart of Israel’s increasingly troubled international relations, an increasing sense that it bears substantial albeit not sole responsibility for the failure so far of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and its strained formal and informal relations with a majority of the Arab world. Israel’s strength no doubt is its ability to discuss such issues publicly. The question is whether this debate will spark the necessary soul-searching.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog.

Beitar Jerusalem and Egypt’s President Morsi: two vignettes of racism

Beitar Jerusalem protest hiring of Muslim players (Source: Reuters)

By James M. Dorsey

Racism raised its ugly head twice in the Middle East in recent weeks: Anti-Muslim, anti-Arab supporters of right wing Israeli soccer club Beitar Jerusalem rejected the hiring of two Chechen Muslim players while Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi struggled to play down anti-Semitic remarks he made two years ago.

The two incidents reflect the region’s battle to come to grips with the fact that it is populated by a myriad of ethnic, national, religious and sectarian groups. Widespread racism coupled with assertions of at times exclusionary rights and an unwillingness to recognize and honor others’ national and minority rights has become all the more glaring amid a regional push for greater freedom in a swath of land stretching from the Atlantic coast of Africa to the Gulf.

While Christians view with suspicion and fear the rise of Islamist forces in post-revolt Arab nations and nervous anticipation change in nations that have yet to be hit by the wave of protests, efforts in Mali to achieve greater rights for the Tuaregs have been overtaken by jihadist forces that prompted a French military effort to regain control of the northern part of the country.

Christians in war-torn Syria first backed embattled President Bashar al-Assad and now frequently stand on the side lines, fearful that the potential emergence of jihadists and Islamists as his successor may mean that their days in the country are numbered.

In Israel, the rejection by supporters of Beitar Jerusalem, the storied bad boy of Israeli soccer that is the only club that systematically refuses to hire Palestinian players although they rank among Israel’s top performers, responded furiously to Beitar owner and billionaire of Russian origin Arcadi Gaydamak’s hiring of two Muslim players from Chechen team Terek Grozny. Mr. Gaydamak auspiciously made his announcement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day and only days after he lost an appeal against his conviction in France on charges of corruption.

Their response constitutes a reflection of prejudice towards Muslims in Israel despite the fact the fans’ response sparked sharp criticism and that the Israeli Football Association (IFA) is the only soccer body in the region that has launched an anti-racism campaign.

“If we accept that racism is still alive and well outside the arena, then sports would have to exist in a hermetically sealed, airtight environment in order to remain uninfected. Impossible. If we accept that, yes, race and racism are still live issues in sports, then we need to realize how these issues are debated and discussed therein has a profound effect on how they are discussed and understood in our broader culture,” says US sports journalist in a newly published book, ‘Game Over, How Politics has Turned the World Upside Down.’

In an interview with Ynet, Mr Gaydamak said that “as far as I'm concerned, there is no difference between a Jewish player and a Muslim player. We must look at things professionally, we must treat them nicely and fairly. There have always been good relations between the Muslims in Russia and the Caucasus and the Jews."   

Mr. Gaydamak was further quoted in the Israeli press as saying that his club’s poor performance and financial troubles had made it possible to stand up against the racism of its fans. “This is something that we’ve wanted to do at Beitar for many years, and it’s been made possible now because of the team’s financial state and the need to strengthen the squad.  The aim is to put an end to the racism that has been doing harm to Beitar over the years, and not to give in to a handful of extremists,” he said.

Yet, even defenders of Mr. Gaydamak’s move couched their arguments in questionable terms. "I don't understand the fans who don't want to see a Muslim player in Beitar. There are a billion Muslims in the world and we must learn how to live with them. There is a difference between a European Muslim and an Arab Muslim, and the fans here have a problem with Arabs living in the Middle East,” said Beitar coach Eli Cohen.

Similarly, Beitar spokesman Assaf Shaked drew a distinction between Muslims and Arabs. “We are against racism and against violence and we pay a price for our fans. But we aren’t going to bring an Arab player just to annoy the fans,” Mr. Shaked said.

In a strongly worded letter to IFA chairman Avi Luzon, Israeli president Shimon Peres said: "I appeal, through you, to all football fans to refrain from all expressions and manifestations of racism in football stadiums and outside of them.  Racism has struck the Jewish people harder than any other nation in the world.  The authorities must prevent it before it starts. Today, sport is a universal declaration against racism. It is unacceptable for the opposite to take place in Israel.”

Beitar fans cursed Mr. Gaydamak during their club’s match last Saturday against Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv and vowed to prevent the Muslim players from playing. “This will happen over my dead body. We won't accept it. Every second they're on the field we'll drive them mad until they ask to leave," one fan said. “Beitar will remain pure forever,” read a Beitar banner during the match. Nigerian defender Ibrahim Nadala left Beitar several year ago after being verbally harassed by fans.

Beitar has the worst disciplinary record in Israel’s Premier League. Since 2005 it has faced more than 20 hearings and has received various punishments, including point deductions, fines and matches behind closed doors because of its fans’ racist behavior.

Beitar fans last year stormed a Jerusalem mall and beat up Palestinian shoppers and workers. They subsequently attacked a Jewish woman musician on a Jerusalem street because she denounced their politics.

Beitar’s matches often resemble a Middle Eastern battlefield. It’s mostly Sephardic fans of Middle Eastern and North African origin, revel in their status as the bad boys of Israeli soccer. Their dislike of Ashkenazi Jews of East European extraction rivals their disdain for Palestinians.

Supported by Israeli right wing leaders such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Beitar traces its roots to a revanchist Zionist youth movement. Its founding players actively resisted the pre-state British mandate authorities.

Beitar fans shocked Israelis when they refused to observe a moment of silence for assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who initiated the first peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

The row over Mr. Gaydamak’s acquisition of Muslim players echoes post-election Israeli political discussions. Yair Lapid, whose Yesh Atid (There is a Future) center left party did surprisingly well in this month’s election, was quick to assure Israelis that he had no intention of cooperating with Palestinian members of the Israeli parliament.

“I heard talk about a blocking majority- I want to take this off the table. We will not do that with Haneen Zoabiz – it is not going to happen,” Mr. Lapid, using a play on deputy Zoabi’s last name to use it as a plural for Arabs.

Anti-Muslim and anti-Arab expressions come cheap in Israel. So do anti-Semitic utterances in Egypt. Speaking earlier this month to visiting US senators, President Morsi said anger over his description of Jews three years ago "bloodsuckers" and "the descendants of apes and pigs" had been overblown because of Jewish control of the American media.

Mr. Morsi’s remarks, Beitar’s defense of the hiring of Muslims who are not Arabs, Christian concerns about their future in the Middle East and North Africa and the failed Tuareg bid in Mali for greater rights serve as stark reminders that the push for greater freedom in the region is still in its initial phase and will only succeed if those clamoring for dignity and rights recognize that this has to apply to all.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog.

Conflicting visions of society spark Israeli and Egyptian soccer violence

Israeli soccer violence - reflection of a brutalized society

By James M. Dorsey

Fan violence has sparked match cancellations on both sides of the Arab-Israeli divide.

The stakes for Egyptian and Israeli soccer fans are high – the nature of the society they want to live in and in some cases the very existence of some of their financially troubled clubs – even if the two groups are likely to agree on little more than their passion for the game.

For militant Egyptian soccer fans the battle is about securing the goals of last year’s popular uprising that toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, ending military rule and saving clubs from financial ruin as a result of initial suspension and ultimate cancellation of Egypt’s top two tournaments. A majority of Egyptian fans, who favor a more pro-Palestinian Egyptian foreign policy, have little empathy for their Israeli counterparts whom they see as thugs, many of whom are racists with their anti-Arab and anti-Muslim chants attitudes.

The Egyptian view is not unfounded even if leaders of the Egyptian ultras – militant, highly politicized, street battle-hardened fan groups modeled on similar organizations in Italy and Serbia – are struggling to keep their rank and file whose cry for dignity is often expressed in clashes with security forces under control.

Israeli soccer brawls over the past month ranged from pure hooliganism and violent clashes between players to attacks on Palestinians and more moderate Jews outside the confines of the stadium. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday called for a crackdown on violence on the soccer field, after fighting broke out on Friday between players of Hapoel Ramat Gan and Bnei Lod. "If there's violence, there will not be soccer. We must uproot this violence in order to return to games that spectators can enjoy, myself among them,” Mr. Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting according to The Jerusalem Post.

The incident in Ramat Gan followed thousands of Hapoel Tel Aviv fans rioting on the pitch after their team lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv. A few days later, two fans of Maccabi Petach Tikvah attempted to attack a referee. In late March a Hapoel Haifa player was hospitalized after being headbutted by a Maccabi Petach Tikvah coach and then kicked in the head by a team associate. The two most onerous incidents involved militant anti-Arab fans of financially troubled Beitar Jerusalem, Mr. Netanyahu’s notorious club, in which supporters first attacked Palestinian workers and shoppers in a Jerusalem mall and later a Jewish woman who protested against their racist attitude. Police were severely criticized for failing to intervene in the mall attack.

The situation in nationalist Israel and post-Egypt could not be more different the laxity of the Israeli police notwithstanding. Yet, they are similar when it comes to the lack of political will on both sides of the Egyptian-Israeli divide to tackle soccer violence as well as governments’ failure to create an environment in which politically motivated violence is viewed as unacceptable. To be sure, the Israeli Football Association (IFA) has responded firmly to player violence but despite being the only soccer body in the Middle East and North Africa to have launched an anti-racist campaign has been lenient in meting out punishments for politically motivated violence.

The IFA last month significantly reduced Beitar's punishment for soccer violence from three home games out of town and one behind partly closed doors to on the grounds that the measure would not change fan behavior. With  the worst disciplinary record in Israel’s Premier League, Beitar has faced since 2005 more than 20 hearings and has received various punishments, including point deductions, fines and matches behind closed doors because of its fans’ racism.

Beitar’s matches often resemble a Middle Eastern battlefield. It’s mostly Sephardic fans of Middle Eastern and North African origin, revel in their status as the bad boys of Israeli soccer. Their dislike of Ashkenazi Jews of East European extraction rivals their disdain for Palestinians. Supported by Israeli right wing leaders, Beitar traces its roots to a revanchist Zionist youth movement. Its founding players actively resisted the pre-state British mandate authorities. Beitar is Israel’s only leading club never to have signed an Israeli Palestinian player because of fan pressure despite the fact that Palestinians are among the country’s top players.

By contrast, Egyptian teams already reeling from the cancellation of the Premier League in February following the death of 74 fans in a brawl in the Suez Canal city of Port Said fear financial disaster as a result of Sunday’s looming annulment of the Egypt Cup. The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) has appealed to the country’s military rulers, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), to step in after a refusal by the interior ministry, which controls the police and the security forces. The refusal was prompted by the security forces’ reluctance to engage with deeply hostile, militant soccer fans because clashes would further damage their already tarnished image as the executioners of the former Mubarak regime and the military.

The military and the police have done little in the 14 months since Mubarak’s departure to polish the image of the security forces by projecting a willingness to reform the police, holding officers accountable for their actions and being seen to investigate the Port Said incident that allows the chips to fall where they fall. The trial against 61, people including fans and nine security officials, accused of responsibility for Port Said was suspended at its opening last week after disruptions by family and friends of the dead.

Police reform is a tough pill to swallow for the Egyptian military. The military “find themselves in a classic Catch-22 situation with regards to police reform. If they listen to the aspirations of the people and fully reform the police, they lose a valuable tool of state control. Should reform take place, where would the buck stop? Real reform in state institutions might later have personal ramifications for SCAF itself, as Egyptians are already calling for civilian control over the military, which may lead to investigations of the military junta down the line. On the other hand, should SCAF choose not to fully reform the police, they risk continued clashes with the people, who no longer fear the police - and consider it one of the last remaining bastions of the old regime,” said Adel Abdel Ghafar, a PhD scholar at the Australian National University and scion of a prominent Egyptian soccer figure, writing on Al Jazeera.com.

Granted, the Israeli police does not have the problems of their Egyptian counterpart. But if the stakes in Egypt are a more transparent, more accountable society, in Israel they are the very democracy that the Jewish state prides itself on, which increasingly is less based on tolerance and respect for diverging opinions and ethnic and religious minorities and ever more so on intolerance and the brutalizing effects of 45 years of occupation of Palestinian lands.

Violence in Israel is not limited to the soccer pitch. A senior Israeli military officer was celebrated by Israel’s right wing after attacking on camera a bicycle protester on the West Bank on camera in the same week as the Ramat Gan incident. Youths on a Tel Aviv beach taunted and abused a mentally disturbed woman inviting her to have sex with them.

The battles in Egypt and Israel are fought on multiple battlefields of which soccer is an important one. That puts the onus not only on governments but also on soccer associations, club management and last but not least world soccer body FIFA, which so far for all practical matters has looked the other way by at best issuing lame protests that Israelis and Egyptians can ignore because there is no price to pay.

With an inept military more concerned about its perks than the country’s future in charge in Egypt and an Israeli government that includes many Beitar Jerusalem supporters, little can be expected beyond at best demands for law enforcement from the highest authority in the country.

That means that the national soccer federations, FIFA and the regional associations, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the Confederation of African Football (CAF), more than ever need to step up to the plate.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.

Is “Death to Arabs” just another football chant? (Guest column)

Is “Death to Arabs” just another football chant?

This article was written for the Football Rascal blog.

“Mavet la ‘aravim” is Hebrew for “Death to Arabs” and is regularly chanted at football grounds throughout Israel. It was recently recorded being sung by some fans after a Beitar Jerusalem victory before the same fans turned on a couple of Palestinian men and attacked them.

A few days later an off duty Israeli soldier in Jerusalem approached me in the street and struck up a conversation about Israeli and European football. He was keen to talk to me about how Israeli football was developing on an international stage. The conversation soured slightly when I asked him what he thought about these ‘Death to Arabs’ chants. His first response hinted at a wider problem, “come on man, those fans are crazy”. He swiftly turned the conversation to why Benayoun was not starting for Arsenal and extolling the virtues of keeping him as captain of their national team.  I tried my luck and once more asked him why this one specific chant is so prolific. He responded bluntly, “Look, it is not nice but it is no worse than what is sung in football stadiums throughout Europe”. Sadly, I know this to be true.

The incident to which I refer was caught on video and shows a few hundred Beitar Jerusalem supporters singing loudly in a shopping mall before the incident escalates. It was reported inHaaretz that some of the fans started to spit at 3 Arab women who were with their children close by. Some men stepped in to help and chased the football fans away but were then turned on themselves and were severally beaten.

One shop owner described the assault saying, “They caught some of them and beat the hell out of them…They hurled people into shops, and smashed them against shop windows”.

The soldier, who asked not to be named, went on to argue that this sort of hatred was a reflection of ‘mindless soccer culture’ and does not represent the views of the majority of Israelis. Although I am sure that this statement holds an element of truth, it misses an undeniable fact that the discrimination that Palestinian Arabs face within Israel is systemic in its nature.

The Mossawa Centre summarizes the situation of Palestinian Arabs (who make up about 20% of the Israeli population) when they say, “the Arab Palestinian citizen of Israel faces direct and indirect discrimination in all aspects of political social and economic life”. In 2011 alone the Coalition against Racism [In Israel] reported that there were 35 pieces of discriminatory legislation in the Knesset, 60 cases of racism committed by elected representatives in Israel and 58 cases of racism committed by the Israeli Army.

The soldier’s assertion that we can write off football chants simply as a reflection of a moronic minority sadly holds a lot of weight in the UK as well as in Israel. Chants, however moronic, do not occur completely out of a social context though. When we hear disgusting racist, homophobic or even anti-Semitic chants on our terraces in the UK they are framed by an undeniable persistence of these problems in our society. The biggest mistake we can make is to pretend that we do not have these problems. Like an alcoholic, the nature of our problem has numbed our ability to spot the problem in itself. We have developed a culture that laughs off problems that when analysed in the cold light of day hold little humour. To acknowledge the nature and severity of the problem is to take our first steps to recovery.

In the UK racism is too often talked about in the past tense as something that John Barnes had to endure back in the ‘bad old days’ (if this season has taught us anything, it is that racism is still alive in British football). There is nothing special about the ‘type of discrimination’ you find inside football stadiums compared to ‘real life’.  The only thing that makes a stadium’s terrace unique is that it can shine a light on a problem which would otherwise lurk in the shadows of society. The sooner we face up to this reality the better.

In Israel we have seen a series of grass-roots initiatives to voice opposition the recent attack and disgraceful chanting. I would suggest however, that the real challenge for Israeli society is to acknowledge the severity of the underlying causes for such chants. The ‘Death to Arabs’ chant (as far as I am aware) is uniquely Israeli but how we tackle prejudice and hatred highlighted through football chants is a universal one. In Israel, I cannot swallow the argument that these chants were just ‘a small moronic minority’ of football supporters – it is clear that this prejudice sits much much deeper. Equally, in the UK I do not accept that we have ‘kicked racism out of football’ any more than we have out of our communities in general.

Soccer fan attack on Palestinians sparks Israeli debate

By James M. Dorsey

An initially under-reported attack by militant supporters of controversial Beitar Jerusalem Football Club known for their anti-Palestinian, anti-Ashkenazi Jewish attitudes on Palestinian shoppers and workers in a Jerusalem shopping mall and the Israeli police’s failure to intervene and arrest any the attackers has outraged many Israelis and is raising questions about the moral fiber of a society that tolerates such incidents as well as a soccer club that is unashamedly racist.

Police launched an investigation into the incident that was caught on security camera video only after the liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the assault and asked how Israel would have reacted if France had responded similarly to last week’s attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse in which four people, including three children, were killed. The alleged killer died in a shootout with police after an intense manhunt and a more than 30-hour siege.

“Those who fail to raise their voice now over Malha will get Toulouse in Jerusalem. Sticks today, guns tomorrow,” warned Haaretz commentator Gideon Levy.

“It's not hard to imagine what would have happened had hundreds of people burst into a mall in Toulouse and beat up Jews who worked there. Israel and the Jewish community would have set up a hue and cry. The president of the republic would have rushed to Toulouse, met with representatives of the Jewish community and expressed his shock and regret. Our prime minister and foreign minister would have competed with each other in expressing shock, and columnists would be fulminating about anti-Semitism raising its ugly head in Europe. Everyone would agree: Jews were beat up (again) simply for being Jewish.

It's also not hard to imagine what would have happened had hundreds of Arabs stormed the Jerusalem mall, beating up Jewish workers. Dozens of rioters would have been arrested and tried. But when it comes to Beitar fans, all is forgiven, all is overlooked. No one was arrested, almost no one said anything, and even after it was made public the mall's manager was the only one to apologize to the workers, who were beaten up simply for being Arab,” Mr. Levy said.

Journalist Uzi Dann noted in a separate commentary that when Paris Saint-Germain fans attacked Jews in 2006 after their team lost to Hapoel Tel Aviv French police intervened immediately and shot one of the attackers.

“In properly run countries like England and Germany there is surveillance of hooligans, who are quite often extreme right-wingers, and harsh penalties are meted out for violence, including imprisonment. And of course, there is massive police presence during games,” Mr. Dann wrote.

He said the mounting Beitar violence stemmed from the growing influence among the clubs fans of a group known as La Familia that is dominated by supporters of Kach, the outlawed violent and racist party that was headed by assassinated Rabbi Meir Kahane. Beitar’s management has so far failed to stymie the group’s influence.

Messrs Levy and Dann’s comments followed Haaretz’s breaking of the story that some 300 Beitar Jerusalem fans had attacked Palestinians at Jerusalem’s Malha shopping mall as part of a celebration of their team’s defeat of rival Bnei Yehuda.

The attack, one of the worst Israeli-Palestinian clashes in Jerusalem in recent years, came two years after the Israel Football Association replaced police in Israeli stadium with ushers in a bid to reduce potential provocations of soccer violence. The shifting of responsibility for law and order away from the stadiums did not relieve the police of its responsibilities in other public places, Haaretz noted.

The incident occurred in what City University of New York scholar Dov Waxman described in an article in The Middle East Journal as an atmosphere of escalating tension between Jews and Palestinians in Israel. “Attitudes on both sides have hardened, mutual distrust has intensified, fear has increased, and political opinion has become more militant and uncompromising….Jews and Palestinians are currently on a collision course, with potentially severe consequences for their continued peaceful co-existence, as well as for stability and democracy in Israel,” Mr. Waxman wrote.

The incident further highlights the failure of the Israeli Football Association (IFA), the only soccer body in the Middle East and North Africa to have launched a campaign against racism and discrimination, to rein in the Beitar fans and curb the club’s submission to its supporter’s racist attitudes. With  the worst disciplinary record in Israel’s Premier League, Beitar has faced since 2005 more than 20 hearings and has received various punishments, including point deductions, fines and matches behind closed doors because of its fans’ racist behavior.

Beitar’s matches often resemble a Middle Eastern battlefield. It’s mostly Sephardic fans of Middle Eastern and North African origin, revel in their status as the bad boys of Israeli soccer. Their dislike of Ashkenazi Jews of East European extraction rivals their disdain for Palestinians.

Supported by Israeli right wing leaders such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Beitar traces its roots to a revanchist Zionist youth movement. Its founding players actively resisted the pre-state British mandate authorities.

Beitar is Israel’s only leading club never to have signed an Israeli Palestinian player because of fan pressure despite the fact that Palestinians are among the country’s top players. Maccabi striker Mohammed Ghadir recently put Beitar on the spot when he challenged the club to hire him despite its discriminatory hiring policies.

Beitar fans shocked Israelis several years ago when they refused to observe a moment of silence for assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who initiated the first peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Referring to the latest incident, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the law enforcement agency had not launched an earlier investigation into the shopping mall attack because no one involved in the incident had sought medical assistance or filed a complaint about the incident in which mostly young Beitar fans unfurled a Kach flag.  Beitar fans often fly the flag during soccer matches.

"How can we arrest someone when there have been no complaints made? There have been no reports of injuries or that anyone was spoken to in [a racist] way. Normally, members of the public would have come forward within hours to make an official complaint. Until now, none has been made", Mr. Rosenfeld said.

Witnesses said the soccer fans flooded into the shopping center, hurled racial abuse at Palestinians workers and shoppers and chanted anti-Palestinian slogans.

Haaretz quoted Mohammed Yusuf, a cleaner in the mall, as describing the attack as “a mass lynching attempt."

An unidentified shop owner told the paper that the soccer fans “stood on chairs and tables (in the mall’s food court) and what have you. They made a terrible noise, screamed 'death to the Arabs,' waved their scarves and sang songs at the top of their voices."

A brawl erupted fans started verbally abusing and spitting at three Palestinian women, who were sitting in the food hall with their children, according to CCTV footage. Palestinian cleaners intervened in a bid to help the women, chasing fans with their broomsticks. After initially succeeding in chasing them away, the fans return to attack the cleaners.

"They caught some of them and beat the hell out of them. They hurled people into shops, and smashed them against shop windows. I don't understand how none shattered into pieces. One cleaner was attacked by some 20 people, poor guy, and then they had a go at his brother who works in a nearby pizza shop and came to his rescue," bakery owner Yair told Haaretz.

Jewish shop owners refused demands by the fans that they give them knives and sticks with which they could attack the Palestinians. By the same token, no one in the mall intervened to stop the attack. The mall’s security chief, whose men were outnumbered by the fans, called police who arrived only 40 minutes after the attack started. Police evacuated the mall but did not intervene further or arrest any of the culprits. Malha executive director Gideon Avrahami was the only senior official or executive to apologize to the workers.

In a statement, Beitar Jerusalem said that the club "firmly condemns violence and leaves it to the treatment of the authorities." Beitar went however on to say that “the incident at the mall has nothing to do with Beitar Jerusalem... Apparently the fistfight started because of an argument between a fan and a worker. This is not about racist violence."

Commentator Levy warned that the problem was one of Beitar’s attitude and mentality. 

“This was not a rare, one-off event, of course. The Beitar entourage strikes again. It starts with their racist and ultranationalist chants and songs, continues to hitting and will end in murders. One of the young rioters boasted the following day (to my informant's daughter) about what he and his friends had done the previous evening. Apparently anti-Arab violence is a source of cheer: Beitar finally won a game, you have to celebrate somehow. It's easy to imagine what would have happened had they lost,” he said.

An Israeli member of parliament called on the eve of the latest Beitar incident Israeli soccer fan for putting violent soccer fans under administrative detention, the legal holdover from British rule largely employed to detain Palestinians for reasons of security for indefinite periods of time without being charged.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.

Beitar Jerusalem Decries Israel Football Association Penalty for Racism

Beitar fans unfurl the logo of assassinated extreme right wing Rabbi Meir Kahane's Jewish Defense Laugue

By James M. Dorsey

Troubled Beitar Jerusalem FC, the bad boy of Israeli soccer notorious for the racism and militant nationalism of its supporters, has denounced as “harsh, discriminatory and unsportsmanlike” the rejection by an Israeli Football Association (IFA) tribunal of its appeal against an earlier sentencing to a two-point deduction for behavior of its fans

In a statement, Beitar Jerusalem said that the rejection would not help the club’s management combat violence and racism and accused the IFA of wanting to harm Beitar.

The rejection by a three-judge panel comes as the club known for its right-wing anti-Palestinian politics and close ties to right-wing Israeli political leader is struggling to avoid relegation, seeking to shore up its bad boy image and raise funds with an initial public offering. It also comes at a time that the club is under attack for refusing to hire an Israeli Palestinian player on racial grounds.

The timing of the IFA ruling is also important to the association, which is under scrutiny in a match-fixing scandal. IFA Chairman Avi Luzon was last week the latest of scores of Israeli soccer officials to be questioned by police as part of an on-going match-fixing probe involving fraud, breach of trust and abuse of power. Police are seeking to establish whether referees were assigned to certain matches so as to influence their results.

The IFA judges reaffirmed the point reduction in a 2:1 vote, with one judge, Nadia Halabi, arguing in favor of ordering the club to play matches behind closed doors to persuade its fans to change their behavior instead of penalizing it with a loss of points.

In response to Beitar’s criticism, IFA officials, according to daily newspaper Ha’aretz, said repeated efforts to change the club’s fan behavior by reducing punishments meted out by the association’s disciplinary court had failed to produce results.

Beitar chairman "Itzik Kornfein really should take care of business in the team before he complains about honorable judges, who make independent decisions," one official said.

Beitar was sentenced to the two-point reduction after its fans shouted racist slurs against Nigerian-born international striker Toto Tamez during a match against Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Beitar has the worst disciplinary record in Israel’s Premier League. Since 2005 it has faced more than 20 hearings and has received various punishments, including point deductions, fines and matches behind closed doors because of its fans’ racist behavior.

Beitar’s matches often resemble a Middle Eastern battlefield. It’s mostly Sephardic fans of Middle Eastern and North African origin, revel in their status as the bad boys of Israeli soccer. Their dislike of Ashkenazi Jews of East European extraction rivals their disdain for Palestinians.

Supported by Israeli right wing leaders such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Beitar traces its roots to a revanchist Zionist youth movement. Its founding players actively resisted the pre-state British mandate authorities.

Beitar is Israel’s only leading club never to have signed an Israeli Arab player because of fan pressure. Maccabi striker Mohammed Ghadir recently put Beitar on the spot when he challenged the club to hire him despite its discriminatory hiring policies.

Beitar fans shocked Israelis when they refused to observe a moment of silence for assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who initiated the first peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Its racist outbursts have prompted the Israeli Football Association to become the Middle East’s only soccer institution to launch a campaign against racism and discrimination.

A crowned club that last won Israel’s Premier League and cup championships in 2008, Beitar has been struggling since its owner, Russian billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak, stopped living up to his financial obligations. His shares were subsequently impounded following a devastating result in a Jerusalem mayoral election and a series of financial scandals that persuaded him to leave Israel.

Hopes last year that Beitar would solve its financial problems and shed its racist image were dashed when the sale of the club to two American Jewish businessmen, one of whom is associated with Israel’s peace camp, fell through. The businessmen had vowed to change the behavior of Beitar fans.

Beitar has since entered into talks with potential financial underwriters led by Tel Aviv-based Migdal Capital Markets, part of Israel’s largest insurance group, about taking the club public to raise $25 million.

The move to take Beitar public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange was initiated by Beitar’s general manager and former goalkeeper, Yitzhak Kornfein. Mr. Kornfein believes that the IPO will position Beitar as a profitable business.

Beitar backed out of an earlier attempt in 2000 to go public after then owner and businessman Gad Zeevi concluded that an IPO would not make the club commercially viable.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.

Troubled Beitar Jerusalem eyes IPO as police investigate IFA on match-fixing charges

Beitar fans display the log of  assassinated extreme right Rabbi Meir Kahane's Jewish Defense League 

By James M. Dorsey

Troubled Israeli first league team Beitar Jerusalem, notorious for the racism and militant nationalism of its supporters, is hoping to escape its dire financial straits by going to market with an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Beitar, the storied bad boy of Israeli soccer, has started the process of raising money from investors, according to Israeli daily Ha’aretz by entering into negotiations with potential underwriters led by Migdal Capital Markets, part of Israel’s largest insurance group in the lead.

A successful IPO would not only boost Beitar’s fortunes but also those of Israeli soccer. Beitar is seeking to go public at a difficult time for the club as well as for Israeli soccer.

While Beitar is appealing an Israeli Football Association (IFA) decision to dock it two points after fans shouted racist slurs against a Nigerian-born international striker Toto Tamez during a match against Hapoel Tel Aviv and defending itself after refusing to hire an Israeli Palestinian player on racial grounds, the IFA itself is under investigation for match fixing.

IFA Chairman Avi Luzon was this week the latest Israeli soccer official to be questioned for eight hours by police as part of an on-going match-fixing probe involving fraud, breach of trust and abuse of power.

Police are seeking to establish whether referees were assigned to certain matches so as to influence their results.

"At the end of this investigation, I can promise that Israeli soccer is clean, as is the chairman of the IFA. I can say with all certainty that no referee fixed any match,” Mr. Luzon was quoted by Army Radio as saying.

Mr. Luzon, a 56-year old member of European soccer body UEFA’s executive committee, is among scores of Israeli soccer officials, players and referees to have already been interrogated by police.

Beitar, he winner of Israel’s Premier League and cup championships in 2008, is seeking to raise $25 million with its IPO to compensate for the fact that its owner, Russian billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak, has been unable to live up to his financial obligations. Mr. Gaydamak’s shares were impounded following a devastating result in a Jerusalem mayoral election and a series of financial scandals that persuaded him to leave Israel.

Mr. Gaydamak’s 2006 acquisition of Beitar was likened at the time to Roman Abramovich’s purchase of English giants Chelsea in 2004.

Hopes last year that Beitar would solve its financial problems and shed its racist image were dashed when the sale of the club to two American Jewish businessmen, one of whom is associated with Israel’s peace camp, fell through. The businessmen had vowed to change the behaviour of Beitar fans.

Beitar has the worst disciplinary record in Israel’s Premier League. Since 2005 it has faced more than 20 hearings and has received various punishments, including point deductions, fines and matches behind closed doors because of its fans’ racist behaviour.

Beitar’s matches often resemble a Middle Eastern battlefield. It’s mostly Sephardic fans of Middle Eastern and North African origin, revel in their status as the bad boys of Israeli soccer. Their dislike of Ashkenazi Jews of East European extraction rivals their disdain for Palestinians.

Supported by Israeli right wing leaders such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Beitar traces its roots to a revanchist Zionist youth movement. Its founding players actively resisted the pre-state British mandate authorities.

Beitar is Israel’s only leading club never to have signed an Israeli Arab player because of fan pressure.

Beitar fans shocked Israelis when they refused to observe a moment of silence for assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who initiated the first peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Its racist outbursts have prompted the Israeli Football Association to become the Middle East’s only soccer institution to launch a campaign against racism and discrimination.

The move to take Beitar public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange was initiated by Beitar’s general manager and former goalkeeper, Yitzhak Kornfein. Mr. Kornfein believes that the IPO will position Beitar as a profitable business.

Beitar backed out of an earlier attempt in 2000 to go public after then owner and businessman Gad Zeevi concluded that an IPO would not make the club commercially viable.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.

Beitar Jerusalem appeals punishment for its fans’ racism

 Beitar fans display logo of assassinated extreme right wing Rabbi Meir Kahana

By James M. Dorsey

Beitar Jerusalem, the bad boy of Israeli soccer, has appealed an Israeli Football Association (IFA) decision to dock it two points after fans shouted racist slurs against a Nigerian-born international striker Toto Tamez during a match against Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Beitar is likely in its appeal to argue that it is seeking to rein in its Sephardic Middle Eastern and North African Jewish fans, known for their dislike of Arabs Ashkenazi Jews of East European origin. The club is looking to hire a private security company to restrain its rowdy supporters.

The IFA's decision to activate a suspended two-point punishment of Beitar meted out last year because of its fan behaviour could prove disastrous as the club seeks to evade relegation because of poor performance.

Beitar this weekend scored much needed points with its defeat of Maccabi Netanya in a home match in Jerusalem's Teddy Kollek Stadium which it had earlier been ordered by the IFA to play behind closed doors because of racist chanting by its fans.

Israeli news reports quoted Beitar coach Yuval Naim as saying the IFA ruling was a disgrace. "They're killing us and demoting us a league. It's a death sentence for Beitar," Mr.Naim reportedly shouted.

Beitar was Israel's richest club until its owner, Russian-born billionaire Arkady Gaydamak, cut funding and failed to sell the club to two American Jewish investors who are widely viewed as critical of Israeli policies and doves when it comes to achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace

The IFA said it was to penalising the club because "the Beitar management had not made an honest effort to combat the fans' chants."

That judgement was reinforced when Maccabi Haifa striker Mohammed Ghadir recently put Beitar on the spot by insisting that he wanted to join the club, which prides itself to be the only Israeli Premier League to have never hired a Palestinian player in a country whose population is for 20 per cent Palestinian and in which Palestinians play important roles in most other top league teams.

"Our team and our fans are still not ready for an Arab soccer player," Israel's liberal daily, Ha’aretz, recently quoted Beitar’s management as saying in response to Mr. Ghadir’s challenge.

Beitar's notorious racism prompted the IFA to become the only Middle Eastern soccer body to launch a campaign against.

Established in 1936 and supported by Israeli right wing leaders such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Beitar traces its roots to a revanchist Zionist youth movement. Its founding players actively resisted the pre-state British mandate authorities. Its fans shocked Israelis when they refused to observe a national moment of silence for assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who initiated the first peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Beitar has the worst disciplinary record in Israel’s top league. Since 2005 it has faced more than 20 hearings and has received various punishments, including points deductions, fines and matches behind closed doors because of its fans’ racist behaviour. The IFA recently ordered Beitar to play two home games behind closed doors and pay a $16,000 fine for fan rioting during a match against Bnei Yehuda.

Beitar’s matches often resemble a Middle Eastern battlefield. It’s fans revel in their status as the bad boys of Israeli soccer. Their dislike of Ashkenazi Jews rivals their disdain for Palestinians.

Despite the IFA's efforts, militant soccer fan racism is encouraged by far-right wing politicians such as National Union deputy Michael Ben-Ari, a proponent of expelling all Palestinians from Israel, who last year proposed legislation that would require members of Israeli national sport teams to sing the national anthem and recognise Israel as a Jewish state. The latter demand is rooted in an Israeli desire backed by Mr. Netanyahu to impose recognition of the Jews’ historic right to settle Palestine and block recognition of Palestinian rights to return to lands within Israel’s pre-1967 borders.

Similarly, Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat, who cultivates an image as a tolerant, modern public servant, has largely remained silent about the racism of home soccer team. Ha'aretz recntly pointed out that approximately one third of Mr. Barkat's constituents are Jerusalem's 280,000 tax-paying Palestinians.

The importance of Palestinian players to Israeli soccer was driven home to Israelis in 2005 when Abbas Suan, a devout Muslim who refused to sing the Hatikva before a game, achieved for a brief moment what politicians in more than a half-century had not: he united Israeli Jews and Arabs by securing with a last minute equalizer against Ireland Israel’s first chance in 35 years to qualify for a world cup. The game earned him the nickname The Equalizer and made him an Israeli hero; his cheery face and toothy smile featured in ads for the state lottery.

That sense of unity was short-lived. When Suan set foot on the pitch in Israel a week later as captain of Bnei Sakhnin, an Israeli Palestinian team, Jewish fans of Beitar Jerusalem, Israel’s most nationalistic club, booed him every time he touched the ball. “Suan, You Don’t Represent US,” blared a giant banner in the stadium. Fans shouted, “We hate all Arabs.”

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.