Despite a countrywide outcry over the racism at Betar Jerusalem soccer games,
most fans defiantly shouted for the new Muslim players to go home as they
streamed into Sunday night’s game against the Israeli-Arab Bnei Sakhnin team in
the capital’s Teddy Stadium.
Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post
Police on horseback at Betar Jerusalem Versus Bnei Sakhnin, February 10, 2013.
Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post
Betar Jerusalem Versus Bnei Sakhnin, February 10, 2013.
Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post
Levy Mikki calling for end to racism at demonstration, February 10, 2013.
Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post
Betar Jerusalem Versus Bnei Sakhnin, February 10, 2013.
Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post
Teddy Stadium, February 10, 2013.
The game ended in a 2-2 draw.
Over
the past two weeks, more than 20 fans have been arrested for attacking Betar
Jerusalem’s guards, throwing rocks at players’ cars, and in the most extreme
example, torching the offices at the Betar Jerusalem practice fields in the
Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Some fans are furious that Betar
signed two Muslim players, Dzhabrail Kadiyev and Zaur Sadayev, from the Chechen
team Terek Grozny.
“We don’t want Arabs, we don’t like them. For 70 years
Betar has had no Arab players, Jerusalem will be pure forever!” shouted
16-year-old Nati Hajaj outside the stadium. “It’s a fundamental of the team,” he
explained.
“It’s absolutely terrible there are Muslim players on the
team, I hope all Arabs will die,” said Avner Yericha, a 28-year-old Jerusalem
resident.
“I’m not racist, I just hate Arabs,” said another 16-year-old
fan, who refused to give his name.
Other fans cautioned that these
extreme views were not representative of all Betar fans.
“This is really
a shame, it’s taking away from the good name of Betar,” said Reut Moshe of
Kiryat Gat. “They need to arrest the fans who are doing these [violent acts],
this is delegitimizing the team.”
Police escorted some of the more
rambunctious fans out of the stadium even before the game
started.
“Everyone hates you, Itzik Kornfein, your mother is a whore and
you are a bastard!” the crowd chanted after they finished singing “Hatikva,”
referring to the chairman of Betar Jerusalem. Some fans are furious with him for
signing the two Muslim players.
Fans also chanted “Death to Arkadi”
Gaydamak, Betar’s owner.
In a show of support for the Chechen players and
Betar management, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Culture and Sport Minister Limor
Livnat and the mayor of the Chechen capital of Grozny all attended the
game.
Kadiyev, one of the new players from Chechnya, was booed by a group
of Betar fans every time he touched the ball while warming up on the field
during halftime. The second player from Chechnya, Sadayev, is currently
injured.
Police removed more than 75 fans from both teams for incitement
and yelling racist statements.
Police spokesman Shmuel Ben- Ruby said
that 20 Bnei Sakhnin fans were removed from the game for whistling and booing
during the national anthem before the start of the game.
Aside from a few
scattered incidents of racist chants of “Betar pure forever!” and one “Death to
Arabs” which did not spread across the stadium, the game was free from the
racism that has marred many of the previous matches.
The Israel Football
Association ordered Betar Jerusalem to close the eastern stands of Teddy
Stadium, traditionally the home of the more hardcore fans, including the
fanatical La Familia group, as punishment for a banner raised on January 26 that
said “Betar Pure Forever.”
Instead, the team displayed enormous signs
stating the team’s opposition to the recent events.
“Violence and racism?
Not on our fields!” the sign read, as the stands sang “Your mom is a whore! Your
mom is a whore!” towards the Bnei Sakhnin stands.
Outside the stadium
before the game began, about 50 people from the anti-racism Bright Tag coalition
held a protest under the banner “Jerusalem is Tolerant Forever.”
New MK
Mickey Levy (Yesh Atid) also slammed the racist acts committed by Betar
fans.
“This is about 500 to 1,000 people who are destroying the
atmosphere,” he said. “These actions have reached an international level – this
is not good for Israeli sport, for Betar Jerusalem or the State of Israel. We
need to cut down racism at the roots.”
Levy, who was formerly the
Jerusalem chief of police from 2000 to 2004, said he recommended to the courts
that they ban fans arrested for incitement from attending the games for three
years, instead of one season – which is the usual punishment.
The protest
was intentionally held out of sight of most Betar fans so as to avoid
confrontations.
Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Pepe Alalu said the violence needs
to be stopped at the soccer field, because it is already spreading to other
sectors of the population, citing attacks against Arab teenagers over the summer
from groups of Jewish teenagers.
Alalu said the Israel Football
Association should send Betar away from Jerusalem as punishment and have the
team play home games in Tel Aviv or Netanya. Alalu also noted that Sunday was
the 30th anniversary of the murder of Peace Now activist Emil
Grunzweig.
“I was there 30 years ago, and we said ‘OK, there’s violence,’
but we never expected that it would kill someone,” Alalu said. “It will be the
same thing here... the police are scared, the players are scared, the fans are
scared, and Betar management is scared.”