The Board of Deputies decides to fight Spurs fans

I have now come to the conclusion that the Board of Deputies actually do more harm than good to the British Jewish community. Incessant antisemitism in the Labour Party? They fall over backwards to appease senior Labour politicians. Incessant media lies and demonization against Israel? No interest at all (indeed they even promote some of the lies).  Violent attacks against Jews who support Israel? Not their business. But finding antisemitism in one of the few places where there is proud identification with Jews and Israel (upsetting thousands of football supporters for no good reason at all in the process) ......that's their current main concern.

And of course the idiot Baddiel brothers are in on the conspiracy.

See:

• Spurs and the Jews: the how, the why and the when
• The useless Board of Deputies

Update on Israel-hating bigot footballing 'hero' Mohamed Salah

Update 28 Dec 2018:  Newspaper reports claim that Salah has threatened to quit Liverpool if they sign an Israeli player.  Given Salah's record of appalling antisemitism anti-Zionism (see below) the story certainly sounds credible, although presumably Salah was unaware that the player involved (Moanes Dabour) is actually an Israeli Arab. Generally, those who 'boycott' Israel tend to only boycott Israeli Jews even while claiming to be not antisemitic. However, whether or not the story is true, the FACTS below confirm that Salah is an anti-Israel bigot.
Update 23 June 2017:  Salah has returned to the English Premier League, having signed for Liverpool for a club record £34 million.


Update (one year on) 2 Feb 2015: Salah has been quietly moved out of Chelsea having barely played a game for them 

The following was posted 24 Jan 2014 with the title "If Mohamed Salah is not an antisemite Abramovic can get him to prove it". Seems like he never did....

Mohamed Salah is an Egyptian footballer who has just signed for Chelsea - a club owned by Roman Abramovic - for £11 million. The English sports media this morning is covering this story with  headlines like "Salah: I am not an antisemite".  Of course, Salah is not an antisemite. Like most Muslim non-antisemites he does not explicitly hate all 'Jews', only 'Jews who believe they have a right to live in their historical homeland', i.e.'Zionists'.

In August 2013 Salah's team Basel FC were drawn against Maccabi Tel-Aviv in a champions league qualifier**. In the home tie Salah refused to shake the hands of the Israeli team, which is a remarkable achievement given that the EUFA protocol requires the home team to line up while the away team walks along the line shaking each hand. Salah managed to 'avoid this' by going to the touchline, pretending to tie up his shoe laces. He also refused to shake hands with any Maccabi players after the game, which Basel won 1-0. After the match Salah announced he would refuse to play in the return leg in Israel. Only after his club threatened to terminate his contract if he did not travel he announced:

I will fly to Israel , Football is more important than politics and it is my job. In my thoughts I am going to play in Palestine and not Israel and I am also going to score and win there. The Zionist flag won’t be shown in the Champions League.

Elder of Ziyon covered the events of the return leg in Tel Aviv in which Salah again avoided shaking hands with the Maccabi players (this time by bumping them instead). As usual EUFA, who are so determined to 'drive out racism' from the game refused to take any action when it came down to antisemitism.

In December 2012 when Chelsea's star player (another Muslim) Edin Hazard joined a petition to boycott Israel from hosting the EUFA under-21 championship I wrote to Chelsea asking if Roman Abramovic (who claims to love Israel) was aware of the stance of one of his players. My letter actually produced a positive outcome. In signing Salah, Abramovic could still turn this into something positive by asking his new employee to publicy apologise for his previous comments and to prove his sincerity by getting Chelsea to play a match in Tel Aviv - with Salah shaking hands with the Israelis.

** Incredibly Basel have been drawn against Maccabi Tel Aviv again - this time in the Europa League - another 2-legged tie to be played in February. This is presumably one of the reasons Salah was keen to get a move away from Basel in mid-season.

Update: I have sent the following letter to my contact at Chelsea (note I promised not to reveal the name of this person):

We were in contact about a year ago when I alerted you to the fact that Edin Hazard was named as one of the footballers supporting an antisemitic boycott of Israel hosting the EUFA under-21 championships. You were very helpful on that occasion and were able to confirm that Hazard did not support the boycott.

Today I see that Chelsea have received assurances from Mohamed Salah that he did not make the antisemitic statements and actions that have been previously attributed to him. I am not sure what antisemitic statements and actions this refers to to but what I DO know is that he WAS certainly responsible for a number of actions and statements in August (in relation to Basel's two-legged tie with Maccabi Tel-Aviv) that I (and many others) consider to be pure antisemitism. There is no denying, for example, that he refused in both games to shake the hands of his Israeli opponents and there is no denying that he initially refused to even go to the match in Israel and when he was forced to by Basel FC he made an antisemitic statement about Israel. The details are on a blog posting I have made today.

Fortunately, as I said in the article, there is a simple way that Salah can at least genuinely apologize for his actions and demonstrate that he is indeed not an antisemite. Chelsea can and should arrange for him to go to Israel and publicly shake the hands of the Maccabi players. Ideally this could be done in a friendly match involving Chelsea FC. Anything less than such an action will always leave open the notion that Chelsea have signed a nasty, unsporting antisemite who also demonstrates a total lack of respect for his fellow professionals. I do not believe Chelsea FC would be happy to have such an employee would they?

Yours

Edgar Davidson

Update 31 Jan 2014: Chelsea have responded to me


Update: I have now compiled a catalogue of players involved in the football Jihad.

When will Jewish victims of Muslim terrorism be invited to Real Madrid?

One of the most widely broadcast news stories associated with Israel this week was Real Madrid's invitation of Ahmad Dawabshe - the 5-year-old Palestinian survivor of the 2015 Duma house fire-bombing (in January 2016 two Jewish Israelis, one of them a minor, were charged with three counts of murder and being an accessory to murder - the defendants deny all charges and Abu Yehuda has been tracking the many inconsistencies in the case).

It might seem mean to raise concerns about somebody committing a good deed - which this certainly is for the child - but there is serious baggage associated with this "act of kindness".

The media have, as expected, used this as an opportunity to engage in an orgy of demonization of Israel and its "Jewish terrorists". In doing so, the media have of course ignored both the incredible rarity of Jewish acts of terrorism and the incredible frequency of Muslim acts of terrorism specifically against the Jews of Israel.  They also ignored the fact that, whereas Israelis were universally disgusted at even the possibility that Jews could have committed the fire-bombing,  the Palestinian population in contrast rejoices every time Muslims slaughter Jewish civilians - including children - in cold blood.

But most important, given the recent history of Real Madrid (and in particular its star player Christiano Ronaldo) in promoting the 'Palestinian cause' it is clear that Ahmad Dawabshe was invited there primarily as a political protest aimed at demonizing Israel. And also note that the invitation was coordinated with Jibril Rajoub the Head of the Palestinian Football Association who is not only a convicted terrorist but is a man who has used his position to: delegitimize Israel wherever possible, continue support for terrorism; and lead the movement to boycott Israel from international football (and other sports).

If this was not a stunt primarily to delegitimize Israel then why, for example, were the four young children of Eitam and Naama Henkin not invited along with Ahmad Dawabshe? These four children witnessed both their parents being murdered by Muslim terrorists around the same time as the Duma fire.

Or how about Roee Fogel? His mother Ruth, father Udi, and three siblings; Yoav (11), Elad (4) and Hadas (3 months) were murdered in their home in Itamar in 2011 by terrorists who cut the baby Hadas's head off and yet are still hailed as "heroes of Palestine" (and receive generous salaries from the Palestine Authority courtesy of EU and US tax payers). Indeed inviting Roee Fogel to Real Madrid might even force the media to mention the Itamar massacre, since unlike the Duma fire-bombing (which has been covered extensively by every major world media outlet) the Itamar massacre was not even mentioned in any news media outside Israel.

Perhaps Real Madrid will still prove me wrong. In which case I look forward to them inviting some of the other thousands of Jewish children of Israel who, in the last 15 years, have had parents or siblings slaughtered by Muslims terrorists. Or even some of the hundreds of thousands of children all over the world with parents and siblings murdered by Muslim terrorists in the last 5 years. Rather than choosing to focus on the one child whose family (may) have been the victims of Jewish terrorists.


*Moshe Cohen in the picture below was Bar Mtizvah this week while his father still lay in a coma following the brutal axe attack by a Muslim terrorist who was supposed to be his friend and colleague

BBC just cannot resist antisemites

Joey Barton is a convicted criminal (see details below) currently playing for Burnley in the second tier of English football. He has never won any honours at football, and his footballing ability is restricted to being a vicious 'hard-man' on the pitch.

Last year Barton was a panellist on BBC's flagship political programme Question Time. Yesterday he was the guest expert on BBC's flagship football programme Match of the Day.

In case you are wondering why the BBC should be so enamoured with a person like Joey Barton it is important to note that after his criminal convictions and various other FA assault charges in 2012, Barton tried to reinvent himself as a working-class philosopher; and what better way to gain credibility than becoming an obsessive Israel-hater. The 'quality' of the thoughts and writing of this self-appointed Hamas spokesman can be seen here which includes antisemitic gems such as   

".. those innocent children, women and men were being killed in Gaza because of a largely interpreted book that was written more than 2,000 years ago,...there are a group of Jews out there, with extreme beliefs, that think the Old Testament is all fact, which means that Israel belongs to the Jews and the Palestinians must give all of the land back to them".

And while on the subject of antisemites that the BBC just cannot resist from inviting on as experts, I note that they (and Sky News) are STILL regularly employing the good old-fashioned Arab antisemite Abdul Bari Atwan who made an antisemitic speech at LSE that was captured on video,  and is also infamous for stating in 2010 that “If Iranian Missiles Hit Israel, I Will Dance in Trafalgar Square”.

********************************
Joey Barton's record

• On 20 May 2008 he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for common assault and affray during an incident in Liverpool City Centre. Barton served 77 days of this prison term, being released on 28 July 2008.
• On 1 July 2008 he was given a four months suspended sentence after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm on former teammate Ousmane Dabo during a training ground dispute on 1 May 2007.
• Barton has been charged with violent conduct three times by The Football Association: for the assault on Dabo, for punching Morten Gamst Pedersen in the stomach, and for attacking three players on the final day of the 2011–12 season.

It is also worth noting that Joey Barton's brother Michael was convicted in 2005 for the racist murder of black teenager Anthony Walker.

And if you still need to know what kind of a person Barton is, here is what one of his victim's Ousmane Dabo told French newspaper L’Equipe in 2012 when Barton talked French club Marseilles into giving him a contract:

Ousmane Dabo - after Barton's assault on him

“Barton is lying about what happened on the training pitch at Manchester City. It is unbelievable. I am shocked.

“There was a trial, he pleaded guilty, and got a four-months suspended prison sentence. When he is talking, he denies it, he stated I have started it all. It is fake. All my team-mates that were present during the attack gave evidence for me during the trial.

“He tackled me, I replied by tackling him too. We found ourselves face-to-face. I had no intention to fight. I jostled him, but I didn’t hit him. So I turned back and then he struck me to the side of the head. I lost consciousness and, being on the ground, he jumped at me and went on hitting me in the face about 10 times.

“He says he is a man, a bad boy, but he is just a coward. I don’t want to give my truth, but the truth. Once again there was a trial.”

Dabo added: ”He is nasty, a traitor. Sometimes I feel people roll out the red carpet for him. So I talk to remind people Joey Barton is a very violent player, far away from the image he tries to give since he joined Marseille. It wears me out to talk again about that story five years later.”

See also

• West Ham decide not to offer contract to thug Barton
• Football jihad

 

Update: Letter to Watford FC about employee Ben Corbyn's blood libels against Israel

Ben Corbyn with one of his heroes Gerry Adams - and sporting "Palestine: end the occupation" t-shirt

13 Sept 2015: See yet another important update.

Following my article earlier today about Jeremy Corbyn's son Ben's deeply offensive facebook postings I have written to Watford FC:

Dear Watford FC

I would like to bring to your attention some of the facebook postings of one of your employees Ben Corbyn that are highlighted in the article here:

http://edgar1981.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/corbyns-son-ignorant-brainswashed.html

While the Facebook page clearly publicizes Corbyn's Watford FC affiliation and activities, it is interspersed with many postings that are deeply offensive not just to Jewish people, but anybody who does not support terrorists and Marxist dictators.

The postings push anti-Israel blood libel stories which have proven to be false, including the particularly offensive story about Palestinian children killed in a school. Like the related stories of Israeli attacks on hospitals, that incident turned out to be the result of a misfired rocket by Hamas (and if you choose to ignore the many Israeli reports at the time proving the rockets were from Hamas, then see this report in the Times, based on evidence from Amnesty International**: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article4392976.ece)

As a private individual Ben Corbyn has every right to say or write what he likes providing it is within the law, but his facebook page is also clearly being written as part of his Watford FC persona. If he wishes to push his political views then they should be somewhere else and NOT on a page where there is a clear Watford FC affiliation, since Watford FC (and others interested in football) should not be subject to such propaganda when they are looking for Watford FC related material.

I would therefore expect an organisation like Watford FC to ask their employees to ensure that Watford FC is not in any way associated with a website they maintain that pushes political propaganda. I also expect Watford FC to ensure that its employee publishes a retraction and an apology for the blood-libel stated above.

Yours

Edgar Davidson

**Amnesty International is an organisation which generally bends over backwards to support Palestinian lies as can be seen from here: http://elderofziyon.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Gaza%20Platform#.VdoLR_TFrs6

Postscipt: I wonder why the Board of Deputies of British Jews leaves it to people like me to raise these sort of concerns. Oh I forgot - it's because of this.

NEW UPDATE. The Corbyns: their anti-Israel hatred is a hereditary compulsive obsessional disorder

See also:

• Corbyn's son: ignorant brainswashed obsessive Israel-hating socialist bigot
• What leftists believe  
• Antisemitism versus anti-Zionism
• Confessions of a pro-Palestinian activist
• The ludicrous and pointless Board of Deputies 

West Ham decide not to offer contract to Hamas-supporting thug Joey Barton

A piece of good news. Apparently pressure from fans has led to West Ham refusing to offer a contract to Hamas-supporting thug Joey Barton - although the complaints focused on his criminal record and not his antisemitism. Why a club with a Jewish chairman (David Gold) should have even entered into negotiations with Barton in the first place is a bit of mystery. After his criminal convictions Barton tried to reinvent himself as a working-class philosopher and what better way to gain credibility than becoming an obsessive Israel-hater (of course this was sufficient to get him invited on to BBC's Question Time). The 'quality' of the thoughts and writing of this self-appointed Hamas spokesman can be seen here which includes gems such as   

".. those innocent children, women and men were being killed in Gaza because of a largely interpreted book that was written more than 2,000 years ago,...there are a group of Jews out there, with extreme beliefs, that think the Old Testament is all fact, which means that Israel belongs to the Jews and the Palestinians must give all of the land back to them".

More on Barton and the others involved in the football Jihad against Israel.

Football Jihad: who's who in the new battle ground (updated)

The campaign to demonize Israel is relentless and operates, as I have reported for years on this blog, not just in politics and the media, but in art, cinema, theatre, and sport. Anti-Israel activists - operating under the guise of being 'pro-Palestinian' - prey especially on the ignorant in society who easily believe the lies told to them. One example of such a group being increasingly targeted are professional footballers, because an anti-Israel message from them can have instant worldwide impact. Hence, there has been a steadily increasing number of footballers taking part in what I call the 'football jihad' - and they are by no means all Muslims. The non-Muslims are typical of the ignorant youngsters you see at any university meeting or rally protesting against Israel - with their Hamas supporting T-shirts and kaffiyas, repeating unquestioningly the same lies told to them.

I have decided to maintain a log of these footballer and (as per my log of anti-Israel charities) I have awarded a number of Arafats (rather than stars) to each (where 5 Arafats is the worse possible). The list - ordered by the fame of the player - is by no means exhaustive but will be updated over time.


Mohamed Salah
Egyptian international now with Liverpool. Refused to shake hands with Israeli players when playing for Basel against Macabbi Tel Aviv. Had to be forced by his club to travel to Israel and then issued a statement saying I am going to play in Palestine and not Israel and I am also going to score and win there. The Zionist flag won’t be shown in the Champions League.  In Dec 2018 it was reported that he threatened to quit Liverpool (at the time of being their star player) if they signed an Israeli player.  More here.
Rating

Ronaldo
Former Brazilian world player of the year. Proud to be seen in his Palestinian 'death to Israel' scarf. Actually played himself in an Iranian anti-Israel propaganda film about a Palestinian girl who is killed before realizing her dream of meeting him.
Rating

Eric Cantona
Former Man Utd superstar. Typical wealthy French leftist who actually thinks of himself as a  man of culture and intellect. Active campaigner for boycotting Israel, calling it a "racist state, which violates human rights". Hosted Palestinian  'footballer' Mahmoud Sarsak who just happened to be an active member of the terrorist organisation Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)  who claimed that he was innocent of the bombing that led to his 3-year imprisonment by Israel and also claimed he was not a member of PIJ (when he was released by Israel in 2012 PIJ held a massive reception for him in Gaza and the group's leader Nafez Azzam described Sarsak as "one of our noble members".

Rating

Christiano Ronaldo
Portuguese world superstar (Real Madrid and formerly Man Utd). Hamas claimed he gave them over a million euros in 2014 (a claim he has not denied) and it is also claimed he refused to exchange shirts with Israeli players (although there is dispute about this). However, he actually attracted the wrath of the antisemites by tweeting to say he was in 'Israel' instead of 'Palestine' before the match where he refused to exchange shirts. Also in November 2015 it was reported by Globes that he paid 19 million euros for an Israeli produced private jet, while in February 2016 he certainly starred in a commercial for Israeli TV company HOT. However, in March 2016 he instigated the highly political stunt of inviting the Palestinian child survivor of the Huma fire to Real Madrid, creating a media orgy of Israel demonization.
Rating

Mezut Ozil
Star with Arsenal and Germany who performs a recitation of the Qur'an on the pitch before every match. Being a good Muslim he sportingly declined to shake hands with a FIFA official because of the official's support for Israel. On the day after Hamas - who rule Gaza - broke a ceasefire by firing 50 rockets into Israeli civilian areas (having already fired 2000 rockets the previous week bringing every Israeli citizen under fire) Ozil announced that he was donating his $600,000 World Cup winning prize money from the tournament to Gaza (i.e. to Hamas), although (possibly because of pressure from his club Arsenal that has many Jewish supporters) he later denied this.
Rating

Iker Casillas 
Real Madrid and Spain. After winning the Spanish Championship in 2010 it is reported that Casillas opted out of the celebrations saying “It’s unthinkable that people take part [in celebrations] and laugh after seeing what is going on in the Gaza Strip". He apparently also was planning to go on the antisemitic Gaza flotilla.
Rating

Marcelo (full name Marcelo Vieira)
Real Madrid and Brazil: Tweeted support for Palestinian terrorism.
Rating

Eden Hazard
Belgium and Chelsea. He was the most high-profile signatory of Fredi Kanoute's campaign to boycott Israel from hosting the 2013 EUFA under-21 championships that attracted 60 international footballers (mainly Muslims) as I reported here. After my intervention with Chelsea the club issued a statement saying that Hazard had not signed the statement and did not wish to be associated with it. However, even today his name still appears on the website as a signatory; this is especially curious as at least 10 players who denied having signed it - including Didier Drogba - did have their names removed.
Rating (based on the failure to have his name removed)

Nicolas Anelka
France and many major clubs. A convert to Islam who performed the 'quenelle' to celebrate a goal when playing for West Brom and refused to apologise, claiming  he was 'only making a dedication to his comedian friend'. ....who just happens to be the convicted antisemite and obsessive Israel hater Dieudonne ... who just happened to be in court at the time on yet another antisemitism charge.
When interviewed in April 2014 Anelka said the French Premier's objection to the 'quenelle' was due his wife being Jewish.
Rating

Samir Nasri and Mamadou Sakho 
French internationals who performed the 'quenelle' alongside its inventor convicted antisemite and obsessive Israel hater Dieudonne (see here) Unlike Anelka at least Nasri issued an apology of sorts.
Rating

Joey Barton
English player, numerous clubs (now manager). He is actually a convicted thug who was booted out of numerous clubs for violent conduct, but reinvented himself in 2011 (while playing for Lille in France) as a philosopher, self-appointed expert on the Middle East and generally Hamas spokesman. The 'quality' in his writing can be seen here which includes ".. those innocent children, women and men were being killed in Gaza because of a largely interpreted book that was written more than 2,000 years ago,...there are a group of Jews out there, with extreme beliefs, that think the Old Testament is all fact, which means that Israel belongs to the Jews and the Palestinians must give all of the land back to them".
Rating

Mido
Egyptian international formerly with Milan and Spurs among many other clubs. When actually supposed to be playing for Barnsley in 2012 he instead went to an anti-Israel demonstration in London where he tweeted "In London against Israel ... Oh Lord burn them". The irony is that he had previously gained widespread support from the FA when he claimed fans were being 'Islamaphobic'. Despite a promise from the FA (made to yours truly) to investigate Mido's call to genocide the FA never did investigate and did not even issue a statement of condemnation.
Rating

Fredi Kanoute
France and numerous clubs around Europe. Long history of association with Islamic fundamentalism and Israel hatred. He is the player who organised the campaign to boycott Israel from hosting the 2013 EUFA under-21 championships that attracted 60 international footballers (mainly Muslims) as signatories, including Eden Hazard as I reported here.
Rating

Chris Sutton (then Celtic and England): Allegedly called his Israeli team mate Eyal Berkovic "baby-killer" in 2001 after taking in the standard Hamas blood libel that Palestinian babies had been deliberately killed by Israel. Although this was quite a big news item at the time I can find no traces of the story on the Internet. Irrespective of this particular story Sutton was a nasty piece of work, whose career was dogged by controversy. In 2000 he was convicted of two charges of common assault and fined after an incident outside a restaurant in which he spat in the face of another man
Rating

Real Madrid
See Ronaldo, Marcelo and Casillas above. This club has an extraordinary capacity to collect players who seem disproportionately concerned about the behaviour of Israel while being extremely tolerant of Palestinian terrorism.  In March 2016 Real Madrid carried out the highly political stunt of inviting the Palestinian child survivor of the Huma fire to Real Madrid, creating a media orgy of Israel demonization. In 2017 Real Madrid removed the cross from their famous badge in order not to offend 'supporters' in Arab countries.
Rating

Algeria National Footbal
On the day after it was confirmed that Hamas - who rule Gaza - had kidnapped and murdered three Israeli schoolboys - the Algerian team (who had been relatively successful in the 2014 World Cup) announced that it was donating its $9 million in prize money from the tournament to Gaza (i.e. to Hamas). Within two days Hamas was firing hundreds of missiles a day at Israeli cities including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. In 2016 Algeria actually cancelled a friendly match with Ghana because the Ghana coach was Israeli.
Rating

Chile's Palestine Football Club
Made news in January 2014 when they adopted a strip that contained the map of 'Palestine' with Israel obliterated. Despite censure and a substantial fine from the Chile FA they have continued to wear the strip.
Rating

Dubai (United Arab Emirates) supported by West Ham United, Bolton Wanderers, Swansea City, Vitesse Arnham
European teams (such as those mentioned above) often like to take a mid-winter 'team bonding' session in a warm climate and Dubai is one of the most common destinations. Yet Dubai - like almost every Muslim country - refuses to allow players with Israeli passports to enter the country. Despite this all the above teams have insisted on booking trips to Dubai when they had Israeli players who were duly banned from going (for example see e.g. here, here, here). Although this has been going on for years, each time it happens the clubs are somehow 'suprised' and 'disappointed'.  But never once have they been sufficiently 'disappointed' to choose a different location and hence finally call out the racist Arabs and push FIFA to do abide by their own anti-racism rules. You would have thought that the clubs would have the decency to pick a civilised place where ALL its employees could go for its mid-winter 'jolly'.  In fact, choosing a location where some of its employees are excluded on racist grounds is actually a clear breach of EU employment law by the clubs and could have been challenged had the Israeli players had the inclination to do so (none did). West Ham and Bolton deserve special criticism because with them it has happened more than once. Indeed in 2006 West Ham even had two Israeli players (Yossi Benayoun and Yaniv Katan) - and they still went ahead with the trip despite the fact that Benayoun was their captain and most important player. Bolton were 'stung' in 2006 (when Tal Ben Haim was banned) and again in 2009 (when Tamir Cohen was banned).
Rating

The Palestinian Authority and Hamas
They have long used football as a Jihad/political weapon. If they are not firing rockets from their FIFA funded football grounds (and then demanding that FIFA expel Israel when Israel responds by hitting the fields where the rockets were fired from) they continually concoct stories in which terrorists whose 'freedom of movement is restricted' or  who are injured while attacking Israelis are claimed to be key players from the Palestinian national team. Apparently the Palestinian national football team has approximately 25,000 key players. In June 2018 death threats from the Palestinian authority forced the Argentina national team (including the world's top player Lionel Messi) to cancel their match in Israel at the last minute.
Rating

FIFA (and EUFA)
Despite continued breaches of FIFA's own regulations on racism, they have never brought to book the many Muslim countries who have refused to allow even individual Israelis to play in (or even enter) their countries even when those players were playing for non-Israeli teams. Nor have they brought to book the Muslim countries (most of the 58) who simply refuse to play Israel in international tournaments. On the contrary, they have punished Israel for this by forcing them (since after 1970) to play in the very difficult European qualifiers for the World Cup while the Muslim countries play in the much easier Asia (or Africa) qualifiers. Hence, while Israel has failed to qualify for the World Cup finals since 1970, a continual stream of inferior Arab and Muslim countries have qualified. The ultimate act of footballing Jihad was FIFA's award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar which means that FIFA will have to 'ensure' that Israel is unable to qualify for that tournament. Yet, while neither FIFA nor EUFA has condemned the blatant racism of its Muslim members, it has continually singled out Israel and threatened expulsion from both FIFA and EUFA for trumped up charges involving 'freedom of movement of Palestinian footballers' (see previous item).
Rating

For an alternative spin on this story see here.

UPDATE: Footballers ... or bombers? How a typical libel against Israel gets promoted and accepted

On 8 March 2014 I posted this important story about a malicious libel against Israel whereby it was accused of shooting 'innocent Palestinian footballers' deliberately in their feet so that they could never walk again. The story was widely distributed by the usual antisemites and Israel haters along with demands that Israel be thrown out of FIFA. Now Bob Knott at Elder of Ziyon had done further extensive investigations which show that the story was even more of a pack of lies than I had suspected - the 'footballers' were in fact self-declared members of the terrorist organization DFLP (Democratic front for the Liberation of Palestine) and that they were attempting to bomb an Israeli security post. They were not shot in the feet at all. Bob also points out one minor error in my report (that the 'footballers' did indeed go to Ramallah hospital as well as Hadassah).

More on the relentless football Jihad against Israel here.

Update on Mohamed Salah story

Following this story, I have recieved a response from Chelsea. It said simply:

Thank you for taking the time to write to the club. I wanted to wait until Mohamed was with the club before responding. I would like to alert you to some quotes from the player on this topic. His words were published on our website today.

Mohamed said: ‘There have been incorrect stories about me, I am a footballer – I do not do politics. I respect everybody, it doesn’t matter where they come from. I do not have a problem with anybody. And I will not speak about this again.’

And here is my follow-up response:

I appreciate your response, but it really is a strange statement from Mohamed. He needs to be much more specific about the 'incorrect stories'. He is surely not claiming that the video evidence of him avoiding hand-shakes on four separate occasions (before and after each of the Basel v Maccabi TA ties) is somehow fabricated? And what about the extensively documented statement "I am going to play in Palestine and not Israel and I am also going to score and win there. The Zionist flag won’t be shown in the Champions League." Are the many dozens of news agencies who attribute that quote to him all wrong?

Surely the best way to resolve this situation is to do what I suggested in my original email. That would be a win-win would it not? At the very least, how about a very explicit statement like the following: "I realise that my actions and some comments attributed to me in connection with the Basel v Macabbi TA matches could be considered offensive and disrespectful to Israeli players and Jews generally. I apologize for any offence I may have caused and can assure all supporters that I would be very happy to play in Israel for Chelsea and to respect the normal standards of sportsmanship such as shaking hands with all players."

Since Mohamed Salah's statement said he 'will not speak about this again' I'm not hopeful that the suggestions in my follow-up letter will be considered. And if they are not it would be very reasonable to conclude that Chelsea have signed a bone fide antisemite. Let's wait and see.

If Mohamed Salah is not an antisemite Abramovic can get him to prove it

Update (one year on) 2 Feb 2015: Salah has been quietly moved out of Chelsea having barely played a game for them 

The following was posted 24 Jan 2014

Mohamed Salah is an Egyptian footballer who has just signed for Chelsea - a club owned by Roman Abramovic - for £11 million. The English sports media this morning is covering this story with  headlines like "Salah: I am not an antisemite".  Of course, Salah is not an antisemite. Like most Muslim non-antisemites he does not explicitly hate all 'Jews', only 'Jews who believe they have a right to their historical homeland', i.e.'Zionists'.

In August 2013 Salah's team Basel FC were drawn against Maccabi Tel-Aviv in a champions league qualifier**. In the home tie Salah refused to shake the hands of the Israeli team, which is a remarkable achievement given that the EUFA protocol requires the home team to line up while the away team walks along the line shaking each hand. Salah managed to 'avoid this' by going to the touchline, pretending to tie up his shoe laces. He also refused to shake hands with any Maccabi players after the game, which Basel won 1-0. After the match Salah announced he would refuse to play in the return leg in Israel. Only after his club threatened to terminate his contract if he did not travel he announced:

I will fly to Israel , Football is more important than politics and it is my job. In my thoughts I am going to play in Palestine and not Israel and I am also going to score and win there. The Zionist flag won’t be shown in the Champions League.

Elder of Ziyon covered the events of the return leg in Tel Aviv in which Salah again avoided shaking hands with the Maccabi players (this time by bumping them instead). As usual EUFA, who are so determined to 'drive out racism' from the game refused to take any action when it came down to antisemitism.

In December 2012 when Chelsea's star player (another Muslim) Edin Hazard joined a petition to boycott Israel from hosting the EUFA under-21 championship I wrote to Chelsea asking if Roman Abramovic (who claims to love Israel) was aware of the stance of one of his players. My letter actually produced a positive outcome. In signing Salah, Abramovic could still turn this into something positive by asking his new employee to publicy apologise for his previous comments and to prove his sincerity by getting Chelsea to play a match in Tel Aviv - with Salah shaking hands with the Israelis.

** Incredibly Basel have been drawn against Maccabi Tel Aviv again - this time in the Europa League - another 2-legged tie to be played in February. This is presumably one of the reasons Salah was keen to get a move away from Basel in mid-season.

Update: I have sent the following letter to my contact at Chelsea (note I promised not to reveal the name of this person):

We were in contact about a year ago when I alerted you to the fact that Edin Hazard was named as one of the footballers supporting an antisemitic boycott of Israel hosting the EUFA under-21 championships. You were very helpful on that occasion and were able to confirm that Hazard did not support the boycott.

Today I see that Chelsea have received assurances from Mohamed Salah that he did not make the antisemitic statements and actions that have been previously attributed to him. I am not sure what antisemitic statements and actions this refers to to but what I DO know is that he WAS certainly responsible for a number of actions and statements in August (in relation to Basel's two-legged tie with Maccabi Tel-Aviv) that I (and many others) consider to be pure antisemitism. There is no denying, for example, that he refused in both games to shake the hands of his Israeli opponents and there is no denying that he initially refused to even go to the match in Israel and when he was forced to by Basel FC he made an antisemtic statement about Israel. The details are on a blog posting I have made today.

Fortunately, as I said in the article, there is a simple way that Salah can at least genuinely apologize for his actions and demonstrate that he is indeed not an antisemite. Chelsea can and should arrange for him to go to Israel and publicly shake the hands of the Maccabi players. Ideally this could be done in a friendly match involving Chelsea FC. Anything less than such an action will always leave open the notion that Chelsea have signed a nasty, unsporting antisemite who also demonstrates a total lack of respect for his fellow professionals. I do not believe Chelsea FC would be happy to have such an employee would they?

Yours

Edgar Davidson

Update 31 Jan 2014: Chelsea have responded to me


Update: I have now compiled a catalogue of players involved in the football Jihad.

Football Jihad: The media misses the key point over Anelka's antisemitic gesture

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Anelka: goal celebration yesterday and previous photo with antisemitic 'comedian' Dieudonne M’bala M’bala

There are plenty of reports in the UK media (news as well as sports) today concerning French (Islamic convert) Nicolas Anelka's antisemitic salute (known in France as ‘la quenelle') that he used as a goal celebration yesterday playing for West Brom against West Ham in London.

However, most reports avoid the background on the antisemitic French 'comedian' and holocaust denier Dieudonne M’bala M’bala** (see, e.g. here and here). He is the one who invented ‘la quenelle', and he has a string of convictions in French courts for antisemitism, including just last week being found guilty of incitement to hatred and racial discrimination - a conviction which apparently triggered Anelka's response. Hence, not a single report has pointed out the curious nature of the 'defence' used by Anelka (and his club) that he was 'only making a dedication to his comedian friend'. On that basis any public figure doing a Nazi salute could justify it by claiming it is only a dedication to their friend Adolf Hitler for the unjust treatment he got from the media.

I wonder what Islamic convert Anelka finds so attractive in an antisemitic, Israel-hating, holocaust-denying comedian?

But, of course, Anelka is just the latest in a long line of Muslim footballers (as I reported previously here and here), who - like 'moderate' Muslims everywhere else in the world - never use their position to speak out about the atrocities committed in the name of their religion but are always keen to add their voice to campaigns against either Israel or - in this case - in support of antisemitic Israel hating 'comedians'.

**His act is focused on ridiculing Jews and making fun of the Holocaust (which he denies - he called Holocaust remembrance as "memorial pornography"). His act includes sharp one-liners like "The biggest crooks in the world, that’s the Jews" and his many convictions for antisemitism include one where he was fined for calling a prominent Jewish television presenter a "secret donor of the child-murdering Israeli army".

Update: The "It's OK - it was anti-Zionist and not antisemitic" defence

Update: More on this at Daphne Anson while Stephen Hoffman has an open letter to Anelka's club West Brom here.

Update: Excellent article about who Dieudonne really is here.

Update 6 Jan 2014: More football Jihad news

Update 23 Jan2014: Sky News puff piece on Dieudonne 

Update: For the record I do not believe in censorship of free speech. I believe Anelka has every right - if he so wishes - to make any kind of antisemitic gesture that he wants. I want the world to know what kind of a person he is and what kind of people he looks up to. I would love the British public to know that Anelka - along with almost every other French Muslim - idolises M'bala simply because of that man's intense hatred of Jews. For the same reason I would love the world to hear the antisemitism which dominates the Arab media and, indeed much of the Muslim world. What I detest is the disgusting self-censorship of the left wing media which stops people knowing those true views of Islamists and what is going on in the Muslim world. This is the reason why I especially deplore all those media do-gooders who say that people like Anjem Choudary - one of the few British Muslims who actually speaks the truth about the Muslim agenda - should be denied any media platform.

Update: I have now compiled a catalogue of players involved in the football Jihad. 

Qatar: most despicable country in the world?

Because of its oil wealth and dominance of much of the world's media (the Qatari Royal family owns Al Jazeera and has major shareholdings in other international news outlets) the extent of Qatar's depravity is rarely raised in the main stream media. That is why you will not have heard news items like this one from last week when Qatar suddenly banned all women from working in boy's schools.

The ban included all women working in the school administration, accounting, social services and public relations, local Arabic daily Al Watan reported on Thursday. Qatari teachers and administrators were relocated based on their home addresses while non-Qataris were handed letters of termination 

The decision by FIFA to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar was the most bizarre and corrupt decision in the history of sport (and yes it was worse than awarding the 1936 Olympics to Nazi Germany because it least that decision had a semblance of rationale from a climate and facilities perspective).

Since that decision Qatar has become the prime international sponsor or Sunni terrorism and is behind the financing of the Muslim Brotherhood takeover of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and, of course, Hamas in Gaza (to whom it pledged 2 billion dollars just two days before Hamas launched its unprovoked missile barrage against Israel in November 2012). Qatar is also financing the Al Qaeda groups that are increasingly dominant in the Syrian opposition to Assad.

FIFA likes to pretend it is passionately obsessed with equality and anti-racism, which is one of the reasons why its Qatar decision was so disgraceful. But don't expect FIFA to backtrack even after the recent revelations.

Qatar is slightly less repressive than Saudi Arabia, but at least Saudi has absolutely no pretencions about what it is and what it is not. That is what makes Qatar probably the most despicable country in the world.

What a result: Eden Hazard denies signing anti-Israel statement

My article about the footballers' attempted boycott of Israel very much focused on the most high profile player - Eden Hazard - of Chelsea. And I suggested that this was a concern that Chelsea's Jewish owner Roman Abramovic should look into.

Following my written complaint to Chelsea Football Club I have had a response. Without divulging the full details of the response the Club are happy for me to state the following quote from Eden Hazard's agent, John Bico:

'Eden never speaks about his political opinions and he certainly never signed anything.' 

So well done Chelsea for responding to this and well done Eden Hazard to distance himself so firmly from the appalling statement. Didier Drogba and Yohan Cabai already denied they ever signed the statement and I notice they have been removed from the list on Freddy Canoute's website. With the above announcement I look forward to the removal of Eden Hazard's name (still there as of 10.30pm on 11 December 2012) and an apology from the various anti-Israel groups that have been proclaiming the 'success' of this ludicrous statement.

Football Jihad against Israel continues: Mido calls for genocide

... and of course nobody seems in the least bit interested.

Following on from my recent posting and updates about the football Jihad against Israel the Sun has a small item on Page 21 today about Egyptian international footballer (and former Spurs striker) Mido. As you can see from the article here Mido attended an anti-Israel rally in London and tweeted "In London against Israel ... Oh Lord burn them"
The article goes on to say that his current club Barnsley have "dealt with the matter internally".

So that's OK then?
Yet, when student Liam Stacey tweeted a daft joke after black footballer Fabrice Muamba collapsed during a game he was imprisoned for "a racially-aggravated public order offence to incite violence". When (black) footballer Rio Ferdinand re-tweeted a fairly harmless comment referring to black football Ashley Cole as a 'choc ice' there was a national scandal with the FA stepping in. And when John Terry - in the heat of a local derby - was accused of a racial slur against a black player he was not only stripped of the England captaincy but arrested and put on trial. In fact the slightest suggestion of racism within the game of football now attracts enormous international concern, condemnation, censure, and often police intervention. Being dealt with privately by the player's club is simply not an option.  With one exception. When that racism is directed against Jewish Israelis (see here and here for previous examples).


What makes this case especially ironic is that Mido claimed he was the subject of 'anti-Muslim' abuse by opposing supporters a few years ago who he claimed chanted "Mido, he's got a bomb you know; Mido's got a bomb."  On that occasion the FA of course stepped in and it was a story of international interest (it made both front page and back page news). This time, as far as I can tell the Sun is the only national paper to carry the story - I tried googling "Mido tweet" and nothing appears.

If an unknown student's drunken tweeted joke about a black football can result in a prison sentence for a racially-aggravated public order offence to incite violence then I would like to know why Mido's real incitement to genocide has missed the FA's radar completely. I will be writing to the FA to ask them - and I will also ask them why they have been silent on the British based players who signed the statement last week that was not only an anti-Semitic blood libel, but was also an attempt to subvert a EUFA tournament in which England is participating.

Footballers want boycott of Israel. Abramovic this is your chance

Please see important update of this story (11 Dec 2012) regarding Eden Hazard

Ever since it was announced that Israel would host next summer's European under-21 football championship tournament, the anti-Semitic Israel boycotters have been trying to stop it. Now, as a result of Israel having had the audacity to try to defend itself against thousands of terrorist rockets - including several fired from the Gaza football stadium (which was also used as an arms cache), the boycotters have seized their opportunity to brainwash a bunch of ignorant professional footballers to issue a statement demanding that EUFA stop Israel from hosting the tournament. The statement uses the pretext of Israel's strike against the stadium - and the bald-faced lie that this "resulted in the death of four young people playing football". No mention of course about the stadium being used as a rocket launching pad.

As far as I can tell every one of the 60 players involved in the boycott statement is Muslim (a fact which has been completely ignored by all the media outlets reporting this story) and that includes the most high profile Premiership based player - Eden Hazard of Chelsea. I've just sent this message to Chelsea FC:

I would like to know how the club intends to discipline Eden Hazard for signing up to what is essentially a propaganda statement on behalf of the Hamas terrorists of Gaza. The statement contains a bunch of lies that constitute a blood libel against Israel. That one of your major employees is supporting an anti-Semitic boycott is also reprehensible.

Chelsea's Jewish owner Roman Abramovic has been rumoured to "love Israel" (although I've never seen the evidence). What a chance he now has to finally show that love by publicly rebuking his employee for his anti-Semitic ignorance.

p.s. I don't recall any international outrage by professional footballers last year when Hamas tried to blow up Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium during an Israeli premier league soccer match last year  .... and of course the Palestinians would never deliberately murder athletes of any sort would they .....

4 Dec 2012 Update: One of the only non-Muslims on the list of 62 signatories - former Chelsea star Didier Drogba - has denied that he signed this statement. However, the violent thug 'footballer' Joey Barton (convicted of assaulting a teenager)  has written a piece of vile ignorant anti-Semitic propaganda dressed up as commentary on the Gaza war in the Big Issue. That's one magazine I won't ever be buying again.

Also, while on the subject of Muslims and football it is interesting to note that the media has covered up the fact that the horrific attack 'by youths' which resulted in the death of a linesman at a youth match in Holland at the weekend was perpetrated by three Moroccan immigrants.

7 Dec 2012 Update: A few more of the signatorees seem to have been faked.

The day that world football died

So, in its quest for outreach and multiculturalism FIFA (one of the world's most corrupt organisations) has awarded the 2022 World Cup to one of the most anti-Semitic, corrupt nations in the world - Qatar. As proof of how surreal a decision this was it even led to the first ever statement made by Obama that I agreed with (he said simply that “FIFA made a mistake”, but no doubt if the USA had not been one of the other bidders he would have been cheering another instance of ‘Muslim outreach’). This story is also well covered here.

Anyway, I've just sent the following self-explanatory letter to the FIFA President:


Dear Mr Blatter

If FIFA is prepared to countenance the idea that the World Cup could be awarded to a country that has never qualified for the world cup (nor any record of footballing achievement), no prospects for football development, no suitable football stadiums nor even football supporters, then we can certainly at least expect any such a country to be one which abides by laws of basic human decency. For example, one which allows entry to visitors irrespective of race or nationality. And we certainly would expect such a country to be free from institutional racism, homophobia and sexism. Since the World Cup is the greatest sporting celebration on earth, it would also surely be expected that in such a country alcohol would not be banned, and it would help if it was physically possible to be outside in such a country in the summer for more than 5 minutes without suffering sunstroke in temperatures guaranteed to be above 45 degrees centigrade. And we would certainly expect such a country NOT to be the major financier of Al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist organisations.

Indeed, the latest version of FIFA statutes document states prominently (in its own section, page 7):

• Discrimination of any kind against a country, private person or group of people on account of ethnic origin, gender, language, religion, politics or any other reason is strictly prohibited and punishable by suspension or expulsion.

Can you please therefore explain the rationale for awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar - a country which not only breaches FIFA’s statutes, but which somehow fails to satisfy a single one of the above-mentioned very modest criteria of basic respectability. Qatar, the country:

• that does not allow entry to nationals from another of FIFA’s own countries, Israel. In fact, not only does it not allow entry to Israeli nationals, nor does it allow entry to nationals of any country who have their passport stamped from a visit to Israel.
• where homosexuality is punishable by death and where even an American citizen was sentenced to six months imprisonment and 90 lashes for homosexual activity.
• which, through its international Al Jazeera propaganda news network, is the world’s major exporter of anti-semitism and anti—Western jihadism.
• which through its newspapers and TV programmes, that are exported to the Muslim world, not only perpetuate consistent holocaust-denial but provide continually novel anti-Semitism. Indeed, a country which, despite being considered by the USA as an ‘ally’ was identified by the White House in 2003 as being a persistent and unacceptable source of vicious anti-Semitism .
• which hosts ‘the world’s leading Islamic Sunni scholar’ Yusuf al-Qaradawi who, apart from his open hatred of fellow Shiite Muslims, is best known for issuing the fatwas that a) formally allowed Islamic suicide bombers to target women and children and b) formally allowed women not only to become suicide bombers but also to wear western clothing in the act of their suicide bombing in order to deceive their victims (in fact this is the sum total of his contribution to advancing the rights of women in Islam).
• where even taking photographs of ‘local people’ is illegal.

Given FIFA’s statutes stated above, I know that Qatar’s discrimination against Israeli and Jews are especially problematic for you (and I know this because I have seen some of the documentation of the bid). For the first time in World Cup history there will be a host country that does not allow entry to nationals from another of FIFA’s own countries, Israel. I understand that the Qataris have explicitly assured FIFA that they will allow entry to Israelis for ‘the duration of the tournament’. I have even heard that FIFA regards this as an indication of its own “positive influence” ; but that is a bit like saying it would have been a good thing to award the Olympic Games to Nazi Germany in 1936 if the Nazis agreed to postpone their pograms against the Jews for the duration of the tournament... Oh wait a minute ... that is exactly what did happen (so it seems the ethical choices of international sports committees have not changed much over the years).

I understand that the Qataris have also assured FIFA members by noting that Israeli sports participants have previously been allowed into the country and that they have even hosted Israeli trade delegations. What they would not have told you is how exceptional these events were and how bitterly they were received by the country’s small but indoctrinated population. The fact that Qatar has refused to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, and will not do so by 2022, is all that you really need to know.

What is certain is that many football supporters who would love to attend the 2022 World Cup – homosexuals, Jews, women, Israelis, or just supporters who also like to drink beer or take photographs – will effectively be denied the opportunity to attend.

If it is not too late for FIFA to reconsider its decision then you simply must do so.

If it is then today was the day that world football died. In either case I would like some explanation of your decision.

Update 2014: 14 reasons why the Qatar World Cup will be a disaster

Anti-semitism in the UK

Today's Sun contains a chilling story about Chelsea's Israeli manager Avram Grant receiving anti-semitic death threats from Chelsea fans. The article says:

One package was found to contain white powder and a chilling note warning it was lethal.
The ground was sealed off and staff put in isolation as experts tested the powder.
Special Branch were then called in after cops read the sickening antisemitic threats against Israeli Grant, 52, and his TV star wife Tzofit, 43.
One note read: “You are a back-stabbing Jewish b*****d.
“When you open this letter you will die a very slow and painful death.”
A second message made twisted sexual threats against his wife Tzofit, adding: “Then she will die.”
Dad-of-two Grant was subjected to racist abuse after replacing Jose Mourinho as manager last September.
Many fans thought Grant – a close pal of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich – was to blame for Mourinho’s axeing.

I checked the BBC News and Sport, Sky News and Sport, BBC teletext news and Sport and ITV teletext news and sport. None of them made any mention at all of this news item. I also looked at Google News UK and Yahoo News UK. Not a mention. [Update: some later news bulletins did mention the story briefly]. Can you imagine the outrcy if anti-Islamic death threats had been made against such a public Muslim figure. There is no doubt it would have been the lead story on the BBC News. But hey, it's only a Jew so it doesn't matter.

BBC anti-Israel propaganda programme about Football

Initial Letter of complaint sent to BBC

BBC Two
Programme name: Frontline Football Palestine
Transmission date: 11 - 07 - 05

This programme was nothing other than a pure anti-Israel propaganda piece. The reporter, Ben Anderson, was guilty of a continuous stream of uninformed comments and questions. The programme presented as 'fact' a number of ridiculous, unsubstantiated claims from Palestinian individuals about incidents of violence and repossession. Even where the 'facts' were true the programme made no attempt to explain the context. For example, it made a big issue of the fact that one of the few sports training camps in Gaza had been destroyed by the Israelis. What it failed to mention was the fact that at the time it was being used to launch missiles into Israel and to train Hamas terrorists; on Hamas's own admission, a number of its 'armed fighters' were killed in the attack.
At no time in the programme did Ben Anderson mention the context for any Israeli actions (such as extended border security checks), namely that the filming took place during a period of unprecedented terrorist attacks against Israelis. The bias in the programme is best summed up by Ben Anderson's own comment while he was witnessing a furious argument between the Palestinian FA president and one of the Palestinian players. The argument was about a ban being imposed because the players had left their training camp in Qatar to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Anderson's comment was: "The Israelis have created such an atmosphere of hate that it has forced the Palestinians to even argue among themselves". Finally, since one of the major 'arguments' in the programme was that the Palestinian team was severely disadvantaged because it could not play its matches 'at home', it is beyond belief that the programme failed to mention that Israel suffered exactly the same fate during the period 2000-2004 when FIFA forced Israel to play all its home matches in Cyprus because of the continued threat of terrorism.

BBC Response

Dear Mr Edgar

Thank you for your e-mail regarding 'Frontline Football'. I understand that you felt the programme broadcast on 11 July 2005 was biased and anti-Israeli.

The notion of impartiality lies at the heart of the BBC. The BBC serves the nation as a whole recognising and responding to all different tastes, views and perspectives. Programme makers aim to reflect, inform and stimulate this multiplicity of interests with a diverse range of quality programmes.

In our programmes on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict we have tried to explain how the current situation started and has since developed and given air-time to representatives from across the political spectrum. However equal representation is not always possible or practical within individual programmes and account also needs to be taken of the way a subject is covered over a period of time. Individual reports or programmes may give more time to one particular incident, but we regularly report and display the suffering felt by both sides. Not every television or radio piece can include all aspects of the conflict, but this does not constitute bias. Perfect balance is difficult to achieve on every single occasion but overall it is a more achievable goal.

Nevertheless, I appreciate that you felt that on this occasion the programme displayed an unbalanced view and therefore please be assured that I have recorded your complaint on our daily log for the attention of BBC programme makers and management and for everyone involved in the production of 'Frontline Football'.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact the BBC with your views.
Regards

Nuala McGoldrick
BBC Information

My response back

Nuala,

Your response would have been acceptable if the programme was purporting to be about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a Palestinian perspective. But it wasn't. The programme was about football. It therefore breached every reasonable rule about impartiality. There are many people who would have watched the programme simply unaware that what they were seeing was nothing other than a vicious anti-Israel Palestinian propaganda documentary. People without any previous knowledge of the conflict would have come away with a hatred of Israel. Is this what the BBC intended? And if the BBC was going to commission such a programme why on earth did it use a presenter who was so clearly ignorant of any facts about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Awaiting BBC's second response

Edgar's Final Comment

The fact this programme was allowed to go ahead demonstrates the extent to which an anti-Israel attitude permeates throughout the BBC. Their response about balance is ridiculous. There is no meaningful 'counter-balance' because it would mean screening a programme about something unrelated to politics (say DIY) and using it as the basis to defame all Palestinians, with a mixture of some truth and mostly made up stories. Somehow I can't see the BBC doing that.

And to confirm how serious I think this is I noticed that in the Sun of all places the TV writer Ally Ross had a little footnote saying that he thought this programme was the one of the best documentaries he'd ever seen and was worthy of awards. I can understand why naive non-politically-aware viewers might say this. They were presented with an incredible story presented as unchallenged truth. Why would they not believe it?