Most Racist ’Israeli’ Soccer Club Renames Itself after Donald Trump

Local Editor

An "Israeli" soccer team, "Beitar Jerusalem", has announced-in celebration of the US embassy relocation to al-Quds [Jerusalem] and in triumph following the 60 Palestinians in Gaza who were massacred protesting the move-that they are now naming themselves after Donald Trump.

In a message posted on their Facebook page, the soccer club wrote, "For 70 years has ‘Jerusalem' [al-Quds] been awaiting international recognition, until President Donald Trump, in a courageous move, recognized ‘Jerusalem' [al-Quds] as the eternal "capital" of ‘Israel'."

If there were ever two entities that deserve one another, it is "Beitar Jerusalem" and Donald Trump. Just as Trump has a forty-five year documented past of racism, the latest chapter being his statement that undocumented immigrants are "animals" (no, he wasn't just referring to MS-13), "Beitar Jerusalem" shares a similar history and similar rhetoric. They are known internationally less for their on-field success than their anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hiring practices and fan supporters who engage in racist violence.

It was in the 1990s when this club, whose supporters had always rooted themselves in the hard right, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim politics of "revisionism", formed "hooligan" clubs modeled after the violent skinhead soccer fan formations in Western Europe.

It was also in the 1990s when the these "fan clubs" particularly the one most known for racist violence, called La Familia, adopted the slogan and chant, "Death to the Arabs." Their abuse of Arabs and Muslims was not confined to players on other teams. The club signed black, Muslim Nigerian defender Ibrahim Ndala in 2004. As Samirian Mishra wrote on the Football in Paradise blog, Ndala "left the club after just five games because of the torrent of abuse he received from his own fans."

Then there was the infamous moment in March of 2012 when hundreds of ‘Beitar' "fans" rushed a mall in west al-Quds, chanting "Death to Arabs", and assaulted the Palestinian custodians who were there to clean up their trash. Mohammed Yusef, one of the cleaners called it "a mass lynching attempt." The headline in Haaretz was, "Hundreds of ‘Beitar Jerusalem' fans beat up Arab workers in mall; no arrests."

This is the team now named after the President of the United States of America.

"I think it's quite fitting for a racist soccer team to give homage to a man who encapsulates what Israel has embodied under the cover of liberalism, namely a self-righteous and violent goal of establishing a racial and religious supremacy. This is not just about his embassy move, this is about a shared- and destructive - vision for the world," said Human Rights attorney and Assistant Professor at George Mason University Noura Erakat.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team