Israeli Soccer Racism

It is well-known that the Israeli football club in Jerusalem is extremely racist and far-right. They not only cheer "death to the Arabs" during games, but during a moment of silence in memory of the slain Israeli prime minister Rabin (who was killed by a far-right Jewish ultra-nationalist) the fans rioted in support of Rabin's assassin.

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But Israeli racism extends beyond the Jerusalem FC and is embedded in the general society. Recently, the right-wing Jerusalem Post wrote a piece seeking to advice Israelis on what national teams they should support or not during the World Cup. Here's the sole reason they offer for not supporting the Ivory Coast: "The Ivory Coast is 60% Muslim."

And this type of casual racism is the norm even amongst so-called 'liberals' in the country. The amusing aspect of the piece is that according to the author, Israelis should not cheer for most teams since they all have offended the Jewish people in someway or another:

Since it’s easier to decide who to root against than whom to cheer, let’s start with the teams that no self-respecting Israeli can support.

Brazil, in cooperation with the Turks, initiated a proposal that could have facilitated the nuclearization of Iran, voted with the Turks against Wednesday’s UN sanctions, and recently treated visiting Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad like a king.

Five Israelis were attacked in Madrid on Monday, and Israeli gays were told to stay away from the city’s gay pride parade. So, no support for Spain.

South Korea downgraded this week’s visit to the country by President Shimon Peres, and the protests against him were particularly nasty – so it’s out, too.

Israelis won’t be cheering for North Korea, which built a Syrian nuclear facility, or Algeria, for obvious reasons. Germany remains Iran’s largest-trading partner, and a massive 20-billion-euro Swiss gas deal with Iran should prevent Israelis from backing Switzerland, which hosts the notoriously anti-Israel UN Human Rights Council.

There are many reasons not to root for England; from its attempt to prosecute opposition leader Tzipi Livni, its deputy prime minister’s support for banning weapons sales to Israel, it being the home of Israel boycotter Elvis Costello, and its recent expulsion of a Mossad official due to his alleged role in facilitating the use of British passports to kill a mega-terrorist.

Australia also expelled a Mossad official for the same reason. Nearby New Zealand suspended high-level relations with Israel after the Mossad allegedly misused its passports in 2004, and last month outlawed kosher ritual slaughtering of animals.

Honduras has a large Palestinian population. Paraguay sheltered many Nazis, including Joseph Mengele, after the Holocaust. The Ivory Coast is 60% Muslim.

France, Japan, Portugal and Greece are known for outbreaks of anti-Semitism, and – a genuine soccer-related grievance – the Greek team finished ahead of Israel’s in their qualifying group, ending Israel’s World Cup hopes. Some Israelis will never forgive the Uruguayan team for defeating Israel’s World Cup team 40 years ago.

In the aftermath of the flotilla raid, South Africa recalled its ambassador to Israel for consultations, so any Israeli who considered backing the home team of Human Rights Council Gaza report author Richard Goldstone will hold back.

Besides South Africa, World Cup countries that voted for the council’s decision to authorize a probe of the raid included Argentina (whose coach Diego Maradona has made anti-Israel statements), Brazil, Chile, Ghana, Mexico, Nigeria, Slovenia and Uruguay, so Israelis cannot support their teams, either.

But the real test of friendship with Israel was the Human Rights Council’s vote to endorse the Goldstone commission report. Six of those same countries voted against Israel, with Mexico, Slovenia and Uruguay abstaining, along with World Cup teams Cameroon, Japan and South Korea. France and the UK declined to vote. Slovakia voted against the Goldstone report, but abstained on the flotilla vote.

The only World Cup countries that voted in Israel’s favor on both key issues were the United States, Italy and the Netherlands.

The Dutch government elected this week is expected to be more pro-Israel than its predecessor, just like the Italian government is.

But Italian president Silvio Berlusconi compared Gazans to Holocaust victims on a recent trip to Ramallah.

Israelis complain about their isolation, but apparently this dude enjoys it. And if no respecting Israeli can cheer for these teams on the field, then even why have relations (trade, tourism, ect...) with these nations in the first place? If you cannot cheer for them in football it seems only logical that the self-respecting thing Israel should do is break off relations, according to these zealot who would no doubt attack these nations as anti-Semitic if they sought to downgrade relations with Israel. But, again, he would apparently take satisfaction in that.

He singles out only three nations worth supporting: the United States (naturally), Netherlands (because its voters just gave numerous parliamentary seats in national elections to a far-right, neo-fascist, anti-Islam bigot who loves Israel) and Denmark (for some reason).

Serbia is delisted because of its human rights records, which offends this Likudnik Israeli. They can be comical and ironic at the Jerusalem Post.