FIFA soccer: 1972 Munich Olympic tragedy redux?
How many young Israeli athletes were mercilessly gunned down and
slaughtered by Palestinians at the 1972 Munich Olympics? Shot
down in their prime simply because they were Israeli athletes? Eleven
were killed.
The entire world reacted in grief to this terrible tragedy and to the
senseless slaughter of these heroic youth -- pouring out its sympathy
and grief for these eleven innocent victims of a violence they had never
created.
And now this same tragedy of young athletes being mercilessly gunned
down and slaughtered in their prime is also being played out on the
world stage all over again.
Except that this time nobody in the world seems to notice -- or care.
Eleven athletes were gunned down in cold blood in Munich in 1972.
And, according to Independent Jewish Voices of Canada, four Palestinian
soccer players have also been mercilessly slaughtered by Israeli
neo-colonialist occupation gunmen, two Palestinian soccer players have
been deliberately knee-capped by Israeli neo-colonial terrorists'
bullets, numerous Palestinian soccer players have been deliberately
jailed or detained simply because they were Palestinian soccer
players, and every time a Palestinian or Arab-Israeli soccer player
takes the field in Jerusalem today, Beitar's fans chant "Death to
Arabs".
Apparently the lives of Palestinian and Arab-Israeli athletes don't even matter.
Right now, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)
is being asked to sanction Israel for its blatant apartheid attitude
toward Palestinian soccer players -- to say nothing of their blatant
displays of terrorism toward these innocent young athletes who do not
deserve to be dead simply because of their country of origin and their
love of the game.
Let us hope that FIFA makes the right call and "red cards" this slaughter.
No athlete, anywhere, ever, should have to put their lives in danger because of their love of sports.
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IJV joins with Israelis and Palestinians demanding FIFA show Israel the red card
This Friday, the World Congress of FIFA, soccer’s
international governing body, will be making a crucial decision –
whether to suspend Israel’s football association from the sports
body. The complaint was brought by the Palestinian Football
Federation after years of harassment, intimidation, racist
incitement, and even physical attacks by Israelis on Palestinian
players.
Independent Jewish Voices – Canada (IJV) joins Israeli peace
groups and Palestinians in urging FIFA to “show Israel the red
card” (like referees do in soccer, suspending a player when their
conduct is unacceptable.) Jeff Halper, a Jewish Israeli peace
activist (who spoke across Canada last winter) met with FIFA head
Sepp Blatter in Ramallah and told him of the many slights and
injuries that Palestinian players have suffered over the years:
- The Israeli government has regularly detained members of the Palestinian team from traveling to international bouts. Last week, not hours after Israeli leaders promised Blatter to facilitate travel, they detained a leading player, Sameh Maraabah.
- The Israeli Football Association has refused to take even the smallest steps to curb racism in Israeli football. The most egregious behaviour is by the team Beitar Jerusalem, which has an open policy of not hiring Arab or Muslim players, even from abroad. Its fans are sadistic and insulting to Palestinian players on other teams and regularly chant “Death to Arabs” after Beitar goals.
- The Israeli government regularly prevents players from Gaza from joining team-mates on the West Bank, and has deliberately jailed others, holding one player incommunicado and without charges or trial for three years.
- Two teenaged Palestinian players were shot in the legs and feet by the Israeli Defence Forces, a particularly targeted punishment for soccer players. Needless to say, they will never play serious soccer again.
- Three team members were killed in the 2012 Operation Cast Lead and the team’s soccer stadium in Rafah, Gaza and the federation’s headquarters were bombed during that incursion.
- A teenaged Palestinian soccer star, Mohammed al-Qatari received an IDF bullet straight to the chest while protesting Israel’s last war in Gaza. http://ijvcanada.org/2015/ijv-joins-with-israelis-and-palestinians-demanding-fifa-show-israel-the-red-card/
