Why not be an Arab actor in Betar | Israel Today

Contrary to expectations, the game between Betar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv last week did not highlight the great rivalry between the two, but revealed the big wound within the Betar Jerusalem fans. For almost 20 years, an extremist faction of hundreds has settled within the fans People, La Familia, who managed in the right political climate to grow wild, exploit the weakness of law enforcement and gain more and more spheres of influence in the stands at Teddy Stadium, far beyond its numerical size. Most fans and the weakness of other organizations, such as the Lions Gate, to dictate to Betar a racist extremist image, which destroyed it image and professionalism.

For more than a decade, Betar has become a negligible team in the Premier League in terms of its threat to the top of the league, and it is far from full of titles. It won the last championship 14 years ago, and the last cup - 12 years ago. Winning in football terms.

Over the years, Betar games have leaked to the news pages, due to La Familia's rage even in international arenas. , During the tenure of owner Arkady Gaydamak, when chairman Itzik Kornfein received threats about his support for the decision to bring to Betar two Muslim players from Chechnya.

This event brought chaos to Betar and for the first time generated a large protest movement from the stands, which established Betar Nordia.

The vision of its people was a racist-free Betar club, which would draw all Betar fans to it.

Among his supporters were former club patrons, Ehud Olmert and Ruby Rivlin;

Rivlin stated that he would not set foot on Teddy as long as the racist demonstrations continued in the stands.

His son, Ren, was one of the founders of Nordia.

One of the biggest experts in what is happening in Betar is Oshri Dudai, who recently left the club after eight years of service - six of them as a spokesman, and the last two years as team manager. Dudai (43), a father of four, grew up in Kiryat Menachem. "Yankee and Dad who went after Menachem Begin.

At the age of 17, Oshri was already a Likud member, but at the age of 21, he voted for Meretz and Ehud Barak.

In all his years of work at Betar, he did not hide his views: for him, Ze'ev Jabotinsky's writings are in line with Meretz's platform, much more so than with the Likud.

This week, Dudai told me: "What is happening to Teddy is a reflection of Israeli society today. The Mizrahi stand is a fertile ground for right-wing organizations, which infiltrated there through the spiritual leadership of La Familia and sowed the seeds. What is happening today should be handled by the GSS Jewish Department, and not in the hands of the police, because it has already crossed the border.

The police can not control it. "

According to Dudai, the Israeli authorities look at the football fields as a place where people's blood is allowed.

"Say, is there a situation where a referee in court will send someone who has rioted in a theater or a concert for three months? The context of the event. "

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The incident last week, which lit the fire, began when members of La Familia beat other Betar fans, including a uniformed soldier and a disabled woman, only to "dare" to cheer on the team player, Yusuf Kamasso Mara, a Muslim player from Guinea. The end of the broad fan base was mainly due to the fact that the extremist organization turned its violence inward, to other fans, and harmed a national emblem, a soldier, and a disabled woman.

Kamasso is not the first Muslim in Betar. He was preceded in death by Ajayev the Tajik, who played without interruption in the late 1980s; Victor Pacha, a semi-Muslim Albanian; and Ibrahim Nadallah, a young Muslim who played when Eli Ohana coached the team, Ohana, it must be noted, was the first to bring an Arab player, Saleh Hasarma, when he coached Bnei Yehuda, and even with her fans this was a cause for war.

Until this week, Ohana, the club's great sergeant, kept a low profile on the explosive issue of La Familia and an Arab player.

But in a post he wrote on the club's website after the recent Bloomfield events, he shunned the organization for the first time, and bluntly.

Around the club it is said that something fell this week, and La Familia is losing its remnants of its legitimacy.

Moshe "Holon" Mothada, one of the heads of her family, who were all waiting for his mouth to open, denied that he knew the beaters, but published photos showed him hugging them.

Betar defeated Hapoel Haifa Teddy this week, with the encouragement of 7,000 fans, who canceled the presence of 30 black wearers of La Familia.

It must be noted that Nordia's anti-racist project has lost its power in the last two years, due to power struggles and statements by significant sections of the club about their intention to return to being part of the parent team.

Oshri Dudai dreams of a managerial model like in Maccabi Tel Aviv, but he is sure of one thing: he will not be an Arab player in Betar.

"Eli Tabib tried to bring an Arab actor, but it is impossible to bring an Arab actor to Betar only as a slogan, which is racist in itself.

An Arab who comes to Betar knows that he is sacrificing his career. But he wants to be an actor, not a freedom fighter. To break the barrier for the first time. "

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