The Jerusalem District Attorney on Monday filed an indictment to the Jerusalem
Magistrate’s Court against two more Betar Jerusalem fans for racist statements
they made near Teddy Stadium on Sunday during the game against Bnai
Sakhnin.
According to the state’s press release, around 9:30 p.m., the
defendants, Shai Benishu, 27, and a second defendant, whose name was withheld
because he is a minor, stood near the west gate of the stadium calling out
racist slogans.
The slogans included: “Salim Touama, Salim we hate Arabs”
and “Muhammad was not a prophet, he was essentially just another Arab,” said the
statement.
The statement did not explain how the second of the two
controversial statements went beyond being contentious to actual racism under
the law.
The formal charges against the defendants are making racist
statements as defined by the 2008 Law Prohibiting Violence in Sports.
The
state requested that the fans be released from custody on condition of posting
bail, presenting themselves at the nearest police station at certain times and
honoring a restraining order that they neither attend any games for the
remainder of this season, nor that they come within a kilometer of any area
where a sporting event is taking place.
The indictment itself was not
distributed to the public to partially preserve anonymity since one of the
defendants is a minor.
The incident occurred against the background of a
spike in racist incidents surrounding the Betar team following the team’s
signing two Muslim Chechnyan players last week, in which several indictments
have already been filed.
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