Fans protest soccer team’s hiring of Muslim players

Fans of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club are protesting its decision to bring in two Muslim players.

The players from the Chechen Terek Grozny team will join Beitar Jerusalem in the coming days.

During a Premier League game Jan. 25 against Bnei Yehuda at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem, three fans were arrested for chanting anti-Muslim slogans. A sign reading “Beitar will be pure forever” was unfurled during the game.

“As far as I’m concerned, there is no difference between a Jewish player and a Muslim player,” team owner Arkadi Gaydamak, a Russian-Israeli tycoon, told Ynet.

Last March, hundreds of Beitar Jerusalem fans chanting anti-Arab slogans assaulted Arab workers at a Jerusalem mall following a game. Sixteen fans were arrested; six were banned from future games. — jta