Arab owner of Beitar, Har Bracha wine in Dubai signify major change
Beitar Jerusalem, in the blink of an eye, has gone from an example of ugliness in Israeli society, to a symbol of the potentials of peace.
By HERB KEINONBEITAR JERUSALEM players celebrate with Eliran Atar (center) after the forward scored on a 26th-minute penalty in his first match with the club to help the yellow-and-black beat Maccabi Haifa 2-0 last night in Israel Premier League action at Teddy Stadium(photo credit: BERNEY ARDOV)
To grasp the significance of an Emirati sheikh buying half of the Beitar Jerusalem Football Club, a team that has never fielded an Arab player, imagine Jackie Robinson not playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, but buying the team.Robinson was the legendary infielder who broke baseball’s infamous color barrier and led to the integration of the game.Robinson, according to the Society for American Baseball Research, “is perhaps the most historically significant baseball player ever, ranking with Babe Ruth in terms of his impact on the American pastime. Ruth changed the way baseball was played; Jackie Robinson changed the way Americans thought.”By no stretch of the imagination is Israel in 2020 – with Arab district and supreme court justices, surgeons, army officers and members of the national football team – akin to Jim Crow America of the mid 20th century.Yet, there is something both ironic and significant in the fact that half ownership of Beitar, a team whose fan base includes a small radical wing called La Familia that is overtly racist and shouts anti-Arab and racist epithets during games, will be in the hands of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Nahyan.The irony is that extremist fans who didn’t want an Arab playing for their side on the pitch, will now be rooting for a club owned by an Arab from the Gulf. And the significance goes far beyond sport and the fact that Hamad’s millions may enable Beitar to improve. This move also has political significance in demonstrating the unexpected possibilities of peace.Just as Robinson’s exploits on the diamond won over bigoted fans – you can’t argue with success – so too is Hamad’s vow to pump NIS 300 million into the club over the next decade likely to blunt reflexive criticism of his involvement in the club by La Familia’s hard core.Placing Robinson on the Dodgers roster did not – as some warned – drive fans away from Ebbets Field where the Dodgers played, but rather increased attendance at the ball games.Likewise, it is unlikely that this new change in Beitar’s ownership will drive away supporters from Teddy Stadium, especially if Hamad’s ownership is able to attract expensive talent to the club. In fact, Hamad’s involvement may even win over supporters who were turned off by the ugly culture that La Familia brought to the team, and to their games.Beitar Jerusalem, in the blink of an eye, went from an example of ugliness in Israeli society, to a symbol of the potentials of peace.No less surprising than Monday’s news that Hamad would be buying half of Beitar, was the news the same day that Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan had signed a deal with a Dubai distribution company, FAM Holding, to export wine, olive oil and honey produced in the settlements to the UAE. And this came about even as various groups and personalities around the world are still loudly trying to boycott products from the settlements and from Israel.Progressives in Europe and in the US may be calling for a boycott of settlement goods, but FAM Holding CEO Dr. Faisal Ali Mousa – who likely cares as much about the Palestinian plight as pro-Palestinian activists in Dublin and Berkley – will be importing those products.All of this shows just how different the Abraham Accords is as a model of peace, compared to the cold peace that Israel has had for more than 40 years with Egypt, and more than a quarter century with Jordan. The peace with the UAE and Bahrain feels like a fundamentally different beast, one that goes beyond heads of state and generals to sports owners and importers. It also demonstrates the possibilities.Sheik Hamad wearing the yellow and black scarf of Beitar over his flowing jalabiya, and the FAM Holding CEO signing an agreement with the head of the Samaria Regional Council shows how things really can change, even unbelievably so. And when the public sees these dividends, when it becomes habituated to the idea that such things are possible, it may want more – and induce other publics to want more as well.Symbols are important, and these two deals are highly symbolic. After so many years of an Arab-Israeli track without any hope, all of a sudden – out of nowhere and during the year that Time Magazine just characterized as “the worst year ever” – these signs of hope for change are blossoming.Who would have thought six months ago that honey from Hermesh would soon be on sale in Dubai? Who could have imagined six months ago that Beitar Jerusalem would have an Arab co-owner from the Gulf? And if all that could happen, so can much more.“Yalla Beitar,” goes the ubiquitous cheer of the faithful at Beitar Jerusalem matches, “Yalla Beitar.” No longer is that cheer – one word in Arabic, the other in Hebrew – oxymoronic for a team that never fielded an Arab player; now that chant for this club may actually fit.
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