The eruption of anti-Israel catcalls during a soccer game has prompted debate over whether the incident revealed deep resentments among Israeli Arabs or that it should simply be chalked up to game-related passions.
The incident occurred during the weekend shortly before the opening of a game between Hapoel Taibe, a team comprised entirely of Israeli Arabs that is ranked as the National League leader, and Maccabi Acre, a third-ranked team made up of Israeli Jews.
According to reports, a group in the crowd began shouting anti-Israel slogans when police arrested two fans who were throwing objects onto the playing field.
As police tried to remove the two, the crowd began shouting “Death to the Jews,” and “Long live Yehia Ayash,” the alleged mastermind behind a series of Hamas terror attacks who was killed in Gaza in January.
The situation was calmed by team officials and players, and the game went ahead.
He was also critical of the Israeli police, who he said provoked the incident in the way they handled the situation and carried out the arrests.
Yehia also said that Israeli soccer fans had chanted anti-Arab slogans at a previous game.
“I can testify, as one who saw last week’s game in Kiryat Shmona, that at a game between Hapoel Kiryat Shmona and Hapoel Taibe, the Kiryat Shmona crowd shouted `death to the Arabs’ through the course of the 90-minute match. No one reported about these calls and cries.”
Yossi Olmert, a Middle East expert, sports commentator and candidate in the Likud primaries, expressed a similar opinion.
“Put in a proper context, Jewish [soccer fans] from time to time go public with shouts of `death to the Arabs’ and so on. There are a lot of emotions at football games,” he told Israel Radio.
The incident comes at a sensitive time, when Israeli security forces have investigated Israeli Arab charity organizations on suspicion of channeling funds to families of Hamas suicide bombers.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
