I need a huge favor, guys. The Israeli Soccer Team made a feature article on this week's issue of Sports Illustrated (Jeff Francouer is on the cover). Obviously, this is huge. Can someone who has access to the online website (or the magazine) please email me a copy? --GoIsrael!
Re: Sports Illustrated Article I suspect you may be disappointed when you read it. Doesn't look like there is anything new there for those of us who follow Israeli soccer, just the standard and at this point somewhat tired story of the players from the Arab sector and their starring role in this World Cup run. But who knows, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised...
Re: Sports Illustrated Article I should've made that appointment with my Doctor this week, so i can pick that SI up! Ooo well!
Re: Sports Illustrated Article Remember, without that "tired story" Israel would already have been eliminated from the group 4 race considering we would have lost both the Ireland and the France match.
Re: Sports Illustrated Article Thats true. Were riding on alot of luck. When i first heard that we were grouped up with France and Ireland..Switzerland and Cyprus, i was in shock. I thought that we may have a chance. There was other times where we had a chance, but this time, we were in the group of death. Somehow, we as well as our other top 4 teams (ISR, SWI, FRA, IRL) are just tying and eding it up....we are close to the end with a 4 way tie for 1st and 2nd..its nuts... other groups, you have run-a-way teams or teams that have a 3-4 point lead...we only have a few points... And were doing alright..I thought we were doomed in Sept 04, but we showed the French, we were doomed in Tel Aviv with Ireland and France but we managed and we even did a great job away to Ireland...so thats great.. i hope we do good in Switzeland. There young star...Zeigler (jewish?) is out...he is in Tottenham! so Switzerland has a rash of some injured players. Hakin is still on the squad!
Re: Sports Illustrated Article The new ESPN the Magazine issue (college football preview issue, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush on the cover) has an article about that Arab guy on the Israeli team as well.
Re: Sports Illustrated Article Lets be realistic, in the American media to get a story on soccer period in a major sports publication and even more so Israeli Soccer (I think the Americans posting on this bulletin board are just about the only people counting the days to the Israel-Switzerland Match), there has to be an angle that transcends soccer. So get used to this being the story that if Israel is fortunate enough to make the world cup will be shown on American TV along with every match. In addition, this is a compelling story and I see only good things in terms of relations between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs that can come from Suan and Badir playing such an integral role in Israel's success in WCQ so far. Besides, maybe if they each score a brace in basel next saturday Israel will make the cover Oh wait then we might lose to the faroe Islands. Anyway, it has been a great run so far and I am happy to see that the American media is beginning to notice. By the way, anyone know if the match is being shown at Nevada Smith's. If not, anyone know any places in NYC to catch the match.
Grant Wahl :antijewish, terrorist sympathazer The hatchet piece by Wahl, painted the Arab Israeli national team palyers as pure as the driven snowy, Israeli Arabs in general as having little civil rights ,very noble as they ignore the "racism" and severe persecution of the Jews of Israel. He uses liberal sprinkling the r word as do all slime balls PC "journalists:" He repeatedly paints the supporters of Betar Jerusalam as "racist ,racist and racist. Well, Herr Wahl , maybe these alleged "racists hecklers of the Arab players were upset that their own relatives ,maybe even their children or spouses ,brothers etc. , were thorn to shreds by one of the numerous bombs planted by the saintly Arab population in Jerusalem. If Wahl had a brain I would point out the usual , Israeli Arabs have the full poltical rights , highest Arab standard of living.in the Middle East. The very few remaining Jews in Arab countries don't have to worry about being heckled in soccer games , because their worries are alittle more serious such being hung for totally untrue allegations of "spying for Israel". Wahl is either very intellectually challenged or he hates Israeli Jews and Jews in general.
Re: Grant Wahl :antijewish, terrorist sympathazer Oh please. He never states support for suicide bombers. So maybe he's a little left of you politicaly it doesn't makethem a terrorist sympathazer. Suicide bombing sucks, there is no defending it. However not all Arabs are suicide bombers. I'm pretty sure no arab Israeli soccer player is involved in terror. Insulting themsimply because they are Arab is racism if you like it or not...
Re: Grant Wahl :antijewish, terrorist sympathazer That was a very witty reply calling me an idiot. It's nice to know mental hospitals gave the patients internet access. To other replier : I pointed out that Jerusalem's Jewish population was the victim of a series of some of the most cowardly , vile violence ever perpetrated. For example, in the Pizzaria Szbarro during a children's birthday party an Arab detonated a bomb studded with nails to ensure the children were shredded and (if that wasn't enough) they coated the nails with Rat poison so if a child had been hit by the nails their blood clotting mechanism would be impaired and thus ensure they would bleed to death. I never said Saun was a terrorist. But for Grant Wahl to portray the Israeli Jews as today's equavilent of white racists of the 1940's and 50s is disgusting. IF you can't see the repeated analogies such as calling a famous Israeli Arab soccer "The Jackie Robinson" portraying Israelis (Jews) in a very negative light ,then you can't see the truth. So what if a few Jerusalam Betar fans in a population that was the victim of countless atrocities held a banner saying "Suan, You don't represent us" . His article is also so PC that he greatly exaggerates the impact of the 2 non Jewish players. He makes it sound as if they have carried the Israelis on their backs in every game. They scored TWO goals total. Yes ,they were crucial goals but I don't think they are the only heroes . Why didn't Grant Wahl even mention anything about the Jewish members of the Israeli National team.
Re: Grant Wahl :antijewish, terrorist sympathazer Great post! Grant Wahl never been to an Israeli game im assuming! He is riding on the wind of knowing Israel success, that..wait..Israel has arab players..so the worst he can say is the racism... eventhough there is racism, this is not an institutionalized matter, nor is it a matter that the Israeli government supports, that racism against the arab population... Levels and bridges are being built. No one questions the Arab Israeli pupblic which sometimes supports terror against Israelis and turns a blind eye, especially to some rare incidents involving arab israelis being the suicide bombers and arab israelis being the 3rd party to kidnapping Israelis from Israel to Lebanon. Then there is the issues that occured before the problems in 2000, where Arab's kidnapped jewish kids and molested them and later killed them. Things you dont hear. Things where if the main reason, political or pedophilia would be mentioned..i think the Israeli public would know better, but to protect all sides both innocent(the majority that is) they dont say a word....keep the calm
Grant Wahl I merged the two threads because they were about the same article. I personally did not like the article. Grant Wahl first off was writing about events he did not witness, and made Israel look like a racist culture that is very close to qualifying for the World Cup in Germany. Both of which we are far from.
Re: Grant Wahl :antijewish, terrorist sympathazer I'm not much for subscribing to the concept of self-hating Jews, as Wahl is Jewish.
Re: Sports Illustrated Article His name is Ziegler, not Zeigler (and no he is not jewish ). He is not injured but just wasn't selected in the 1st squad (he will play for the U21 this time). And it's Yakin not Hakin, and he is slowly coming back to his best again, he will be a man to watch. Good luck to you guys, very important match indeed...
I was very disappointed with the article myself. It contains too much of the pop-culture celebrity news. Look at the poor oppressed Arabs and their evil Jewish overlords. Hammed up for a good read, though it is Obvious that Whal does not do very much background research and is mostly concerned with selling the story. Sensationalist tripe. Are their racial tensions in Israel between Arab and Jew? Are there fans who heckle and jeer Arabs, absolutely. Is it the majority of fans? Absolutely not. And many is the time I have heard us cheering an Arab player who makes a great play. Is the situation perfect? Absolutely not, but neither is it as dire or miserable as Wahl portrays it. My only concern is the damage done to the Israeli image by this story. We have to accept that the majority of readers probably have never been to Israel, never will go, and have absolutely no idea what is going on in the country. And if the only thing they read or hear about Israel is this crap, then it could have very bad repurcussions on Israel's image. --kravi
As an American who follows MLS, US national teams, UEFA competitions, and the German speaking teams, I wondered why SI would cover Israel, and not one of the other teams in the World Qualifying. I knew very little of the Israel team, though I've read a lot about Israel and the Middle East - particularly through books like Exodus (old, I admit), Queen Noor's autobiography, etc. I was very touched by the teamwork, and the good will by having Arabs play with Jews. I hope the team does well and is supported by all Israelis. Peace and co-existence are the only viable options. Hopefully the soccer team continues to lead Israel in that direction. Like the history of many areas with such differences, we need to acknowledge past injustices, but respond with peace and love - not more injustice. Men like ML King, Gandhi, and Bishop Tutu have helped do that. We need some similar leaders in the Middle East. (We may have them, but I'm not hearing them.) I apologize, and am getting off my soap box.
Re: Sports Illustrated Article I see you subscribe to the "any publicity is good publicity" school of thought. But as several other posters with more nuanced points of view have noted, it's not always a good thing when sportswriters with only limited understanding of the issues and personalities behind the news attempt to tackle such stories. You are undoubtedly correct that if by some chance Israel manages to qualify this will be the primary angle that every media outlet will take in covering the team, but that doesn't mean we have to be glad about it.
Re: Grant Wahl :antijewish, terrorist sympathazer I believe so. Just me, but if Israel qualified for the WC, I wouldn't really care, because I'd be passed out in a bar somewhere! Bit like the reputation thing. People have their minds made up about Israel, and they're not going to change their opinion based on an article about football.
I just thought he was generic German-American (remember, there are tens of millions of those here in the States) or something.. Thanks for the correction.
You may consider the articel unbalanced, but the idea that the casual reader will come away with a negative image of Israel is wrong (from an unscientific survey of friemds who read the article). What will emerge is that there are a few racists, but that given an excuse, that Jews in Israel will include Arabs in Israel in their definiton of what an Israeli is.
I hope you are right Perhaps I do get a bit paranoid when reading articles about Israel. I'm still not impressed with the portrayal, but I'm glad it doesn't seem to you to be such a "sensationalist" piece of writing as it does to me. --kravi