Showing posts with label soccer. Show all posts

Monday, February 3, 2014

Posted: 03 Feb 2014

Original caption "Police intercede in Orthodox attempt to break up

the Maccabee football game" (1930s)

The neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo in northern Jerusalem is known for the dust-up between Israel and the U.S. Administration several years ago when Israel announced plans for expansion of the ultra-Orthodox housing project.

Aerial photo of the sports field, adjacent to the ultra-Orthodox Meah

She'arim neighborhood (1931). See a view of

the bleachers here, and the field here.

Originally, Jerusalem's legendary mayor Teddy Kollek planned that the area, known as the Shuafat ridge, would house a 50,000-seat football stadium, sports facilities and tennis courts.

But access to the stadium would have to be through Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, and Sabbath protests and demonstrations were a certainty.

"Crowd of mixed Orthodox Jews who arrived on the scene en

masse to force the discontinuing of the Maccabee football game"

Eventually, the stadium was built in southern Jerusalem near Malcha, and the Shuafat ridge became part of a contiguous stretch of ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.

The Sabbath tensions over public sports games on Saturdays were documented by the American Colony photographers some 80 years ago.

Some of the photographs identify the field as "near Bokharbia," meaning near the Bukhari Jewish neighborhood adjacent to Meah She'arim.

"Close-up of an Orthodox Jew in the crowd." View another close-up with

the police - here (1930s)

Monday, December 30, 2013

A Sick Development Coming Out of Europe, ‘disgusting’ Nazi-like salute

A Sick Development Coming Out of Europe, ‘disgusting’ Nazi-like salute

Click here to watch: France deplores soccer player’s
‘disgusting’ Nazi-like salute

The French sports minister accused top French soccer
player Nicolas Anelka of anti-Semitism and “disgusting”
behavior on Saturday night, hours after Anelka made
what is regarded as a neo-Nazi-style, anti-Semitic
salute to celebrate scoring a goal in the English Premier
League.

The “quenelle” signal is rapidly spreading
among anti-Semites in Europe and is being used by
individuals to fly under the radar of strict anti-hate
speech laws in parts of the continent.

The signal, extending one’s right hand toward the ground while
the left hand grasps the shoulder, was devised by Dieudonné
M’bala M’bala, a controversial French comedian who has been
condemned in court several times for anti-Semitic remarks.
“Anelka’s gesture is a shocking, disgusting provocation.
There’s no place for anti-Semitism and incitement to hatred
on the soccer field,” said the French sports minister, Valerie
Fourneyron, in a tweet.

Over the past two months, the “quenelle” trend has gained
popularity, prompting hundreds of Europeans to post pictures
of themselves online performing the heil-like salute. Many of
the images were taken at sensitive sites such as in the
Auschwitz concentration camp, the Anne Frank House and
even the Western Wall.

Dr. Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress,
said it was “sickening that such a well-known footballer would
make such an abusive and hateful gesture in front of tens of
thousands of spectators.”

“This salute is merely a lesser-known Nazi salute and we
expect the same kind of punishment to be handed down by
the authorities as if Anelka had made the infamous outstretched
arm salute.

“This salute was created by a well-known extreme
anti-Semite who has displayed his hatred of Jews, mocked
the Holocaust and Jewish suffering.” Use of the “quenelle” is
“gaining more and more momentum, is very pervasive on the
internet and social networks, and is increasingly becoming a
symbol of the Nazi regime, and does not look like a passing
phenomenon,” Yaakov Hagouel, the Head of the World Zionist
Organization’s Department for Combating Antisemitism, told
Hebrew website Ynet earlier this month.

WATCH HERE