Soccer / No Muslims at Betar, fans warn
By Itzik Ganish

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/520409.html

Two months after Nigerian defender Ibrahim Nadala
departed from Betar Jerusalem after fans verbally
harassed him for being a Muslim, some fans are voicing
similar feelings about a possible Betar signing of
Ghanaian forward Ismail Ido.

Two Betar fans made calls to this reporter on his
cellular phone at Hadashot Netanya yesterday,
inquiring about Ido's religious background. Ido played
for Maccabi Netanya in the past.

The first caller, who identified himself as Yisrael,
said: "They told us in Jerusalem that you could help
us."

Reporter: "How?"

"Do you know if Ismail is Muslim or Christian?"

"I'm not sure."

"Check for us, b'hayat rabak (by the life of God),
before our management screws up again. I'll get back
to you. Check, do me a favor, so there won't be any
mistakes.

"Why? What difference does it make?"

"What do you mean? If he's Muslim, then we veto him,
[Betar chairman Meir] Fenigil will have a veto on his
hands. You know, it's serious, I'm asking you."

An hour and a half later, another fan called:

"My name is Lior. I'm with some Betar fans, we called
you earlier to find out if Ismail Ido is an Arab or a
Christian. Can you let us know?"

"He's Christian. He even has a cross, and before he
goes out on the field he crosses himself."

"Ehiye salamtak (Be healthy), you've really helped us
out. If you hadn't, we'd have kicked up a real stink,
you know, like usual. There's no way we'd have a
Muslim. You're the man."

"Tell me, why behave this way?"

"What do you mean, why? An Arab at Betar? They tried
to bring us a Muslim. We've never accepted one and we
never will, God forbid. We're Betar, not Maccabi, not
Hapoel, and not even Bnei Yehuda, no way. We hate
Arabs."

"What would you have done if he was Muslim?"

"The same we did to the other Hamas member, it doesn't
matter who you are. There are a lot of the things the
newspapers don't know, things they don't report on. We
know there's a trend at Yediot Aharonot not to write
too much about violence. They'll soon discover what
they don't know. Any means is legitimate, God forbid
that an Arab comes to Betar."

Then the first fan, Yisrael, got on the line, and
said, "Don't write any names, forget about it, what
for? After all, we were only checking. He's not
Muslim, and that's it. Yalla salamtak (be healthy)
bro, walla (by God) you're okay."






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