Israel’s Arab soccer star got his own fans

It is very sparse in the stands when people from one short side start running across the field. In photos distributed on social media, people from Hapoel Be’er Sheva attacked Bnei Sakhnin supporters.

The September 1 event has become an infectious issue in Israeli football.

Bnei Sakhnin is the largest Arab-Israeli club in the country, with Arabs, Jews and Christians in the group. The team’s supporters turned their backs when the national anthem was played before the game, prompting Hapoel Be’er Sheva supporters to storm the pitch. The police intervened, but Bnei Sakhnin did not want to play the match, club officials said the players were concerned about their safety.

– Since this event, Sakhnin, which was already very unpopular, has become the most hated club in the country, says Irad Tsafrir, a sports writer at Haaretz newspaper.

That’s six that Hamas hostages had just been found dead in Gaza made the protest against the national anthem even more poignant that day.

Since October 7, there has been a radicalization that has reached almost every club.

After that, both teams received point allocations as punishment, but after the appeal, Sakhnin’s lesser points were deleted. Be’er Shevas stood, while the club believes that Sakhnin should be judged as the loser because the team refused to play.

That’s the national anthem Playing before the games is something new that many teams have introduced since the Hamas attack on October 7 last year, says Irad Tsafrir. Until now, only Beitar Jerusalem, Israel’s most famous political club, has done so.

Beitar Jerusalem has never had an Arab player in the team, which is what influential sections of the supporters want. Groups, such as the most famous La Familia, sing racist songs against Arabs. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports the club, as do other prominent right-wing politicians.

Other football clubs have been places of coexistence between Jews and Arabs, but there are also more support groups that express racism.

Maccabi Tel Aviv groups have a song with the lines “why are the schools closed in Gaza? Because there are no children left.” Television footage shared on social media showed it being sung at the airport by supporters returning from Amsterdam after the team’s Europa League match against Ajax last week.

supporters of Israel he was attacked after the game in what was the mayor of the city Femke Halsema explained as “a toxic cocktail of anti-Semitism, hooliganism and anger over the conflict in Palestine and Israel”. She also said, according to AFP, that Amsterdammers were attacked by “Maccabi hooligans” with racist and hateful slogans.

According to the city’s report on the events, supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv tore Palestinian flags, armed themselves with sticks and engaged in vandalism, ten Israelis were arrested.

The last year the whole society in Israel has become more nationalistic and trust in Palestinians has grown, says Irad Tsafrir. It is also evident in football.

– Since October 7, there has been a radicalization that has reached almost every club.

In August, some supporters of Maccabi Haifa held up a banner with the text that an Israeli child has more value than a child in Gaza, with the mathematical sign “>”, which means more than.

They did it when Dia Saba was on her way back to the club.

A few days after the Hamas attack and the Israeli bombings in Gaza, God’s wife Saba shared a post on Instagram with the text “there are children in Gaza too”. It made supporters turn against their star player.

– My opinion is that Saba should not wear the Maccabi Haifa shirt anymore. Saba, go to Turkey, go to Qatar, they will welcome you,” popular player Yaniv Katan said on the radio, according to Washington Post.

It’s bad Saba she apologized to his wife a few days later.

“She thought she was expressing a message of reconciliation and peace. She meant well, but she was wrong and I’m sorry for that,” he wrote on Instagram.

With goals, you also silence those who shout or say that you are not worth playing at the club.

There are also those who defend it.

– Many supporters of Maccabi Haifa also say: “What are you asking of him? Leave him alone, what did he do?”, says Irad Tsafrir.

Maccabi Haifa has for many years has been a symbol of coexistence in Israel, with Jews, Arabs, Christians and Druze in both the team and the supporters. It was not the ultras of the club that had a children’s flag in Gaza, and they are not the ones who have booed God Saba, says Irad Tsafrir.

But in February, Dia Saba was loaned to Emirates Club in the United Arab Emirates.

When he came Back this summer, some were booing him from the stands, some were praising him.

– He has been their best player since the start of the season. In fact, he is the best player in the league right now. With goals, you also silence those who boo or say you don’t deserve to play in the club because you don’t deserve to be a citizen and things like that, says Irad Tsafrir.

He believes that the new captain of the national team Ben Shimon takes the opportunity to bring out Dia Saba now that Israel is also playing its home games in Europe for security reasons. In Israel, it would probably be a difficult situation for him, Irad Tsafrir believes, as he points out what happened to Mu’nas Dabbur.

During Israel’s 2021 World Cup qualifiers, the then Hoffenheim player was booed by his own crowd when he played for the national team, even when he scored.

After violence at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem that year, he had written on social media, loosely translated: “God will deal with those who do injustice.” He later explained that it was about an old relative of his being injured by excessive force from the Israeli police, according to Haaretz. The following year, Mu’nas Dabbur left the national team.

But there are more Arab players there. Mohammad Abu Fani, now at Ferencváros, started in an attacking role when Israel faced France on Thursday.

After October 7th he condemned the Hamas attack but also expressed displeasure that he had to do so.

“Every time something like this happens, they ask the Arabs to condemn it as if we were responsible. It’s impossible,” he wrote on social media.

It was before he was promoted and labeled a terrorist when the national team played the European Championship qualifiers against Andorra at the Beitar stadium in Jerusalem, much to his surprise.

– He was humble. I broke down after the game, sad it to Haaretz.

He was replaced by Dia Saba in the 0-0 draw against France. On Sunday, Israel meets Belgium on neutral ground in Budapest in the League of Nations.

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