UAE royal buys Israel football club as fans react with ‘F*** Dubai’

A member of the UAE royal family, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, has purchased a 50 per cent stake in Israeli Premier League football team Beitar Jerusalem, a club notorious for its racist chants against Palestinians.

Details of the purchase were announced by the Israeli club on its website and social media. “A historic and exciting day for Beitar Jerusalem. This afternoon (monday) a partnership agreement was signed between Mr. Moshe Hogeg and Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Nahyan,” said the Israeli club on its Twitter account.

In an announcement posted on their website, Beitar said Hamad Bin Khalifa’s purchase also included a commitment to invest more than 300 million shekels ($92.18 million) in the club over the next ten years.

Beitar’s announcement quoted Hamad Bin Khalifa as saying: “I am thrilled to be a partner in such a glorious club that I have heard so much of and in such a great city, the capital of Israel and one of the holiest cities in the world.”

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While the deal to purchase stakes in an Israeli football club may itself raise some eyebrows, Hamad Bin Khalifa’s reference to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is likely to prove controversial given the city’s status as one of the core issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Despite normalising relations with the occupying state, the UAE has not officially recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Beitar Jerusalem is a bastion of Israel’s political right-wing and a group of supporters known as “La Familia” has been openly abusive towards Israel’s Arab minority. The club has faced several penalties as a result of its fans chanting racist slogans and its opposition to bringing Palestinian citizens of Israel into the team.

Its hardcore fan base is notoriously abusive towards opposing players, routinely taunting them with racist and anti-Arab chants. One chant goes: “Here we are, the most racist team in the country.”

While a banner was set up outside Beitar Jerusalem’s stadium praising Hamad Bin Khalifa and welcoming him to Jerusalem, some of the club’s fans sprayed offensive and racist graffiti on the outer wall of Beitar Jerusalem’s stadium, saying: “Mohammed is Dead”, “Death to Arabs”, “Fuck Dubai”, and “You can’t buy us!!! $ Don’t fuck with us!”

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