Things People Blame the Jews For, Volume LIX: The European Super League

Recently, there was an announcement that several major European soccer teams were going to form a "super league". Now, I'm just going to tear off this band-aid -- I'm not European, and I don't really follow soccer. So I'm probably going to butcher what this means, and I don't care enough to do real research to find out. But as far as I can tell, the super league would diverge from the general promotion/relegation system common in European leagues. Instead, most of the participating teams would be permanent members of the league regardless of how they perform -- akin to the how professional sports leagues operate in the U.S. (where, no matter how woeful the Pirates are, we're stuck with them in the MLB indefinitely).

Anyway, the Super League announcement was controversial with, well, everyone, and it looks like the league is pretty much dead in the water. But its very short life still left time for people to assign blame to the proper parties:

In several posts, the writers blamed Jews for the situation. One user wrote: “Notably, most of the owners of these ‘big' football clubs pushing for a Super League are Jews, including Roman Abramovic [sic] and the Glazers…..Jews are ruining football, they don’t give a f**** about the Gentile fans..”

Roman Abramovich is the owner of Chelsea FC, one of the clubs due to take part in the new league, while the Glazers are the American family who owns Manchester United. Joel Glazer is said to be the vice-chairman of the new Super League. Tottenham Hotspur, chaired by Daniel Levy, is also one of the founding clubs.

Another Twitter user wrote: “All this talk of the European Super League. It’s jew rats behind it. All money grabbing c***s. It’s no wonder that people hate them as much as the muslims.”  This post was illustrated with a vicious and common antisemitic cartoon.

In another post, a user wrote: “Them 3 fat AMERICAN C***S YOU F***ING BASTARDS. And as for that Jew levy your family should have been gassed”. Someone else declared: “Hey Zionists it’s not all about money you suckers“.

Last one is a fun example of clearly using "Zionists" to mean Jews! 

I Want To Like Soccer

I want to like soccer.

Like most of my generation, I played soccer as a kid (for far longer than Little League or any other sport). I like its international character, especially how even relatively obscure teams always seem to have a few players from some random nation halfway across the world. I like how every country has approximately twenty six leagues, and I like the promotion/relegation system where entire teams can move to more or less prestigious leagues based on their performance. Wikipedia tells me there is a Bethesda Athletic FC that plays in some fifth-level league in Wales, and I'd love a jersey from them (for those of you who don't know, I grew up in Bethesda -- Maryland, not Wales).

But my goodness is the sport boring to watch.

I don't know how people do it. Occasionally, I can get into a match when there's some serious big-game atmosphere. And I appreciate the World Cup as another opportunity to apply my Olympics-rooting-rules (in essence: always root for formerly colonized nations to crush their erstwhile colonial overlords). When Team USA performs well, or there's some other good narrative (I'm a sucker for underdog tales) I can enjoy the story.

Yet by and large, it's just not that interesting a sport to watch. Nothing happens -- nothing even really threatens to happen -- for 95% of the time. The most common "action" is players faking injuries. Fans are so starved for action that they roar in anticipation if the ball even arcs towards the net.

As a spectator sport, I just don't get it.

Things People Blame the Jews For, Volume XIX: FIFA Arrests

Like most people, I was shocked, just shocked to find out that over a dozen FIFA officials were arrested on suspicion of corruption. One explanation for the arrests is that FIFA is notoriously corrupt. Another explanation is, as always, more plausible (both tweets via Adam Holland).

The most #corrupt nation on earth #worldpolice calling the shots , what Zionist did fifa upset? #FIFAarrests #coverup

— Edinburgh festival (@Edinburghcentre) May 27, 2015

Zionist hasbara : @nytimes saying "it's time for Blatter to go" after calls to @FIFA to suspend #apartheid #Israel https://t.co/QMMjex99So

— Hamzaoui Kallas (@Hamzaoui_Kallas) May 27, 2015

The latter tweet, of course, refers to an upcoming vote by FIFA to suspend Israel's membership. Now one might wonder why would a noted "Zionist hasbara" organ like the New York Times turn on Sepp Blatter when he's been trying to head off the suspension vote. Indeed, I actually think news of these arrests makes the suspension vote far, far more likely to pass. If there's one thing FIFA needs right now, it's a distraction. And there is no better distraction that a high-profile dose of Israel-bashing guaranteed to set off an international firestorm. It might be bad publicity, but from FIFA's vantage that's a relative term, and it's better bad publicity than "we're basically a racketeering organization." (Maybe we can call this "BDS-washing"!).

But I suspect there's no use trying to plumb the logic of those devious Jews. The important thing is that any one who thinks that these FIFA arrests are a good thing for soccer or for public integrity is a puppet of the grand Zionist conspiracy and should be called out as such.

UPDATE: Apparently this has been part of a long game -- see this 2011 article where a disgraced FIFA official from Trinidad and Tobago blamed "Zionism" for his downfall.

The FIFA Field

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) is pushing ahead with an effort to expel Israel from FIFA, citing restrictions on the movement of Palestinian soccer players and the fact that various Israeli settlements field soccer teams. Israel offered a compromise addressing the former complaint (ignoring the latter), but the PFA rejected the overture.

I highly doubt that this gambit will pass, requiring as it does 3/4 of FIFA's membership to vote in its favor. But I suppose one never knows in the context of resolutions on Israel and international bodies. What I am certain of is that if the resolution passes, the reaction from American and Western Europe will be swift and furious, and probably will entail them withdrawing from FIFA altogether. Which, come to think of it, would be one of the best things that could happen for international soccer, as FIFA is an utter disgrace. So, you know, there really is no losing here.

One Week Out Roundup

I'm one week away from the bar exam. My strongest area is constitutional law. My weakest area is everything else.

* * *

Soccer clubs often break along broader cultural and national faultlines, and certain clubs are typically identified with various political movements. In Israel, for example, Hapoel Tel Aviv is identified with the Israeli left, and Beitar Jerusalem representing the nationalist right. Two liberal American Jews have now bought the team; hopefully, they'll help clean up its act (an interesting fact for folks not privy to how Israeli society divides -- Beitar supporters hail overwhelmingly from Israel's large Mizrachi [Arab] Jewish population).

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called Yesh Din a "terrorist organization". Board member Shlomo Gazit notes it's a label he's borne before.

That far-right Iowa "marriage" petition also calls for "robust childbearing". How exactly does one birth "robustly"?

Good post by Ta-Nehisi Coates on people feeling a connection to where they're from, even it is a place that is considered a "problem".

A Columbia professor writes a book on how to resolve (or at least ameliorate) intractable conflicts. One notes that his advice could succinctly be summarized as "the opposite of what anti-Israel BDS campaigners propose".

Hussein Ibish underestimates the proportion of the BDS movement which targets Israel as a whole (the UCU academic boycott being perhaps the most prominent case), but he's absolutely right that the Israeli anti-boycott law itself is not designed to protect Israel but protect its settlements.

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) flips out at fellow Floridian Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D). Lest we forget, West is a war criminal.

Friendly

There is a soccer match coming up between Celtic FC (a Scottish club) and Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israeli). The Scottish Trade Unions Congress, generally sympathetic to boycotting Israel, wants to attend this game and protest Israeli policies by waving a bunch of Palestinian flags. Apparently subscribing to the Limbaugh/Klein school of thought, which assures its supporters that the targets of a political protest would be absurd to consider themselves targets of a protest, the STUC writes that they are "making clear that we attach no blame either to Hapoel Tel Aviv players, nor their fans, for the outrageous actions of their government."

That's good to know, because as it happens, Hapoel Tel Aviv is known as the quintessential left-wing team, and indeed is currently captained by an Israeli Arab. Hell, it's even rocking the hammer and sickle on its logo ("Hapoel" means "the worker"):



The team also sponsors the Mifalot project, designed to create interfaith and interethnic soccer teams to help bridge divides and promote peace (endeavors which the BDS campaign has come out explicitly and definitively against). I'm sure that Hapoel would love more international support for these sorts of bridges. I'm equally sure that the STUC has absolutely no interest in providing it, because the STUC has absolutely no interest in ending the conflict.

But sure, what the hell, launch the protest. Why seize the opportunity to express solidarity with a prominent Israeli institution doing the hard work of building peace, when it is so much easier and more satisfying to entrench hatred instead?

UPDATE: FC Celtic is reportedly quite unhappy with the proposed protest, and is urging the STUC to call it off. Their objection seems to be two-fold: first, they don't want their soccer game politicized, and second, they are concerned about safety in the confines of a crowded arena.

Civil Rights Roundup: 08/15/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

The family of a gay California teenager who was slain by a classmate is suing the school, saying that it endangered their son by allowing him to wear feminine clothing and makeup.

Solid move by Tim Kaine: He issued a pardon to a local woman who had lived in the US since she was 7, who was facing deportation for a minor crime she committed 12 years ago. The move is giving her at least a one year reprieve from her deportation order, allowing her more time for appeals.

The Post cautions Americans that an enforcement-only approach to illegal immigration will not work forever.

Also from the Post editorial page, a reminder to not forget about New Orleans.

An elementary school principal in Texas is under investigation after allegedly asking that her grandchild be placed in a classroom with "nice white neighborhood boys."

A former state legislator known for his "tough on crime" positions has stirred ire in his local community because he is sheltering former sex offenders who, thanks to ever tightening laws, cannot find places to live.

Rhode Island has lost over half the membership of its Commission on Hispanic Affairs after 11 resigned in protest over increased crackdowns on illegal immigration.

The Florida branch of the United States Civil Rights Commission has come out in favor of automatic restoration of the civil rights of released felons.

Ward Connerly is dodging Nebraska's campaign finance laws requiring donor disclosure by creating a shell organization to funnel the money through.

Black student test scores in San Francisco are lagging way behind their White peers.

Could a Major League Soccer squad do anything more foolish than harass its Latino fans? That's like a hockey team trying to drive out Canadians.

Jurors have convicted to prison guards on civil rights charges after they allegedly allowed inmates to rape a teenager in prison overnight for traffic violations.