Ethnic cleansing is never conducted publicly. Those committing it never send a letter to the UN's Human Rights Council announcing their intentions. They never contact the press and deliver a formal letter announcing their planned actions, or describing their accomplished goals. They publish neither statistics nor protocols. Simply, any of these actions would send them to jail, or worse. In the little hours, hiding in the dark shadows cast by a sick moon, they commit their crimes. It can’t go on forever; at a certain moment so many persons get involved in the crimes that their secret becomes common knowledge. Even then, obtaining direct evidence is difficult. Yet, their poisoned ideology diffuses downwards into the uneducated masses. Ecstatic, they are unable to shut up, showing the world for the first time an indirect testimony of what is happening under the innocent noses of the UN delegates. On Saturday, January 26, 2013, the Teddy Kollek Stadium in Malha, Jerusalem, was the scene of such an event. "Beitar Pure Forever," read a sign held by fanatic supporters of Beitar Jerusalem, who opposed the hiring of Muslim players by the soccer group.

"Beitar? Malha? Kollek? Is that English?"

Israeli President Shimon Peres was so shocked that on January 29, he delivered a formal statement condemning the event. It was a public relations disaster that couldn't have happened at a more symbolic place. First things first; Beitar is a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Latvia, by Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky, the main ideologist of modern Likud, the party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Its name is a forced acronym (one letter was changed in order to create the possessive form of "home" in the name and for the name of the last Jewish fort to fall in the Bar Kokhba revolt in 136AD) of "Brit Yosef Trumpeldor," namely the Alliance of Yosef Trumpeldor. The latter died in the first battle between Zionists and Arabs. Beitar was behind a military organization within the Warsaw Ghetto. The movement became the recruiting organization for the Irgun, the National Military Organization, widely considered a terrorist organization after the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 22, 1946. The Irgun's anthem was the third and final verse of the Beitar song. Over the years, the importance of the youth movement decreased, and Beitar become better known for its soccer clubs. Most Israeli cities feature Maccabi, HaPoel, and Beitar soccer teams. The first is politically neutral within the Zionist spectrum, the second is historically related to Labor, and the third relates to Likud.

Among Israeli soccer teams, Beitar groups are infamous for their fanaticism. Within Beitar, the Jerusalemite team is the worst in this category. The club is a member of the Israeli Premier League and is based at the Teddy Kollek Stadium in the Malha neighborhood. Violence during its games is common. This Saturday violence is expected not only due to the racist sign placed last week, but also because Maccabi Umm al-Fahem, a Palestinian team from The Triangle will play against Beitar Jerusalem in Jerusalem.

Ban on Muslim Players

The event last Saturday was the result of the managers' decision to add two Muslim Palestinian players to the team. "Beitar Pure Forever," was the answer of the fans. They weren't demanding that the food served be "kosher;" they want a purely Jewish team. "Pure" here was said in the Nazi-Aryan sense. Pure as Hitler, pure as Goebbels, pure as Jabotinsky and Trumpeldor; snow white pure.

Against the educated judgement of the Beitar fans, the last thing Israel needs is to make public its racist policies. Reuven Rivlin, Likud member and Speaker of the Knesset, recently urged the silent annexing of the West Bank. Several recent actions by Netanyahu's government show that this is his government secret policy. "This is 'shoo-shoo,' don't speak about that," an Israeli would react to the topic. Yet, Beitar members are proud Jews. Nobody will silence them. A shivering Shimon Peres sent an open letter to the Israel Soccer Association. "The recent events in the last game of Beitar Jerusalem are worthy of condemnation [typically, he avoided the expected 'I condemn']. ... I am sure that the entire nation is shocked by this event and will never accept it. Sport is understood nowadays as a universal declaration against racism. We cannot even imagine that the opposite would happen in Israel," he wrote. Benjamin Netanyahu didn't react.

Dear Shimon Peres, your imagination may be limited; yet, The Menorah, The Flag of the State, the Lions of the Capital as Beitar is known have made it easy for you. Don't imagine, just read the sign in the stadium: "Beitar Pure Forever!"