Israel expressed its concern over a seemingly
anti-Semitic promotional video shown last week during a Euroleague basketball game in Moscow. The Jerusalem Post reported Monday that the video, depicting the Russian team CSKA as a train running over a Chasidic-looking man,
was shown during a game between Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv and CSKA.
A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told the Post that “we view
the incident very seriously,” but Maccabi Chairman Shimon Mizrahi downplayed the
incident, characterizing the video as an insensitive mistake but not
intentionally anti-Semitic.
Mark Sofer, the Foreign Ministry’s deputy director-general for Euro-Asia,
expressed Israel’s concern during a phone call with Russian Ambassador Piotr Stegniy, who promised
to deal with the matter. A letter of complaint was sent to CSKA
management.
