כדורגל

Last night, Jeff Seidel took us to Teddy Stadium to see a soccer game between Beitar Jerusalem and HaPoel Tel Aviv. Soccer in Israel is intense. There were seats in the stadium, but nobody sat; everybody stood. The stadium was a sea of yellow (Beitar's color) with a small section of red (HaPoel's color). The fans screamed and cheered throughout the whole game. I took a few videos, but it was so loud that everything sounds like static. Think the Quidditch world cup from Harry Potter, only in a smaller stadium. That was the crowd at Teddy Stadium last night.

What surprises me is that team fan bases aren't based on geography. Some cities have multiple teams, and of these teams there are seven named HaPoel and five named Maccabi. An Israeli who went with us yesterday said that soccer in Israel isn't just a sport, it's politics. The match we saw was Beitar Jerusalem, a extremely right-wing team, vs. HaPoel Tel Aviv, a left-wing team. I was very surprised by the racism in the stadium. My attempt at video didn't work so well, but YouTube has a very clear one:

What are they saying? According to Shaga Elam, the lyrics are as follows:

What's Salim doing here? Don't you know?

What's going on here I ask?

Everywhere I hear that this is the land of Israel

Toama, this is the land of Israel

This is the land of Israel, Toama

This is the Jewish State

I hate you Salim Toama!

I hate all Arabs!

I am honestly appaled. Salim Toama used to be a member of HaPoel Tel Aviv; this chant is targeted straight at him. No wonder the Palestinians want the Jews gone, if this is how Israelis treat them! I know it's just a small fraction of the Israeli population, but sometimes it's the small fractions that make the most noise and cause the most damage. The mere fact that these people get away with such a chant is appaling. Is the government showing its approval through its silence?