When can you say that an organisation is a racist one? Is Beitar Jerusalem a racist club? While there’s a vast group of fans that are openly racist, the Israeli Premier League club tries, now and sporadically in the past, to fight them. “Here they come, the racist team of the country,” they sang for many years. But they’re a minority among Beitar fans. Were the English clubs racist entities during the 1980s when fans threw bananas at black players? Are they racist now because some fans abuse players online?
Beitar, six-times national champions, isn’t a racist club but an organisation deeply infected with racism. Numerous owners and chairmen tried to fight the racists and paid a personal price. If Beitar could get rid of racism and racists they would do it but it’s getting harder and harder. It could have been done in the past more easily but now it looks like a herculean task.
