Israel Matzav

Who's a racist?

Lori Lowenthal Marcus got into a Twitter debate with Alu Abunimah in the wee hours of Sunday morning over Beitar Jerusalem signing two Muslim soccer players from Chechnya.

I am reproducing the tweets below. Given that Abunimah posted an irrelevant comment and walked away, I would say that Lori won the debate.

.@aliabunimah @intifada Name an Arab football team that has Jewish players on it.#ultraracist
— Lori LowenthalMarcus (@LoriLMarcus) January 27, 2013

.@aliabunimah I would if there was.Why don't u renounce ur racist hatred for Jews & the Jewish State?
— Lori LowenthalMarcus (@LoriLMarcus) January 27, 2013

.@aliabunimah u said institutionalized bigotry in Israel. Racist Betar fans & players unacceptable, but Arab countries have institl bigotry
— Lori LowenthalMarcus (@LoriLMarcus) January 27, 2013

.@aliabunimah Glad u agree Arab nations bigoted & I can understand u r disappointed those countries not learn from Israel, instead bigoted.
— Lori LowenthalMarcus (@LoriLMarcus) January 27, 2013

@lorilmarcus I didn't agree. I said its irrelevant. Israel is supposed to be exemplary yet all you can do is compare it to others
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) January 27, 2013

.@aliabunimah Have trble w/ English?My 1st response: Israel doesn't have institutionalized bigotry, was giving u other places 2 focus on
— Lori LowenthalMarcus (@LoriLMarcus) January 27, 2013

@lorilmarcus so any person born in "Israel" can move back there?
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) January 27, 2013

@lorilmarcus Any person can lease lands from the "Jewish National Fund"? Have you ever looked at Sikkuy's Equality Index?
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) January 27, 2013

@lorilmarcus don't quit your day job as a clown.
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) January 27, 2013

There are a couple of tweets that did not come through. You can read the entire conversation here.

Oh and by the way, three Beitar fans were arrested at Saturday's game in Jerusalem for 'racist jeers.'

Police arrested three Betar Jerusalem soccer fans for racist jeering made at Saturday's game at the Teddy stadium in Jerusalem, Army Radio reported on Sunday.

The background for the racist flare up was the news that team owner Arkady Gaydamak intends to bring two Muslim Chechen players to the team. Referring to the practice of the team to recruit only Jewish players, the fans held signs that read "Betar is a pure team." 

Politicians in Israel who condemned the fans' behavior were quick to link the event to Sunday's marking of International Holocaust Memorial Day. 

...

Betar Jerusalem and its fans have a reputation for being intolerant. Team owner Arkady Gaydamak said that there is no conflict between the Jews and the Muslims in Chechnya and warned against painting all of the fans with the same racist brush. "The absolute majority of Betar supporters... are against the anti-Muslim provocation."

Gaydamak said that the racist outbursts made him more determined to bring the two Muslim players to Betar. However, one of the two players has already indicated that he would not come to play for a team whose fans do not respect its players' beliefs.  

I agree that what those 'fans' did was wrong, but as someone who grew up under the US rules of freedom of speech, I have a problem with people being arrested for holding up a sign at a soccer game. This isn't exactly yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater....

Labels: Ali Abunimah, Palestinian propaganda

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:47 PM