UK Ignorance About Israel

This Israeli Arab soccer player has much to teach the ignorant and uninformed bigots in the British Isles about Israeli society. Among these, which is that Israel is not remotely an apartheid state. Not that these closed-minded leftists would have any interest in hearing him, their hatred for Israel being so deeply ingrained. There is a groundswell of artists and performers in the UK who are boycotting Israel without the slightest knowledge of facts.

The Herald Scotland:

Celtic’s new Israeli midfielder Beram Kayal will find similarities between Glasgow and Haifa


Michael Grant


1 Aug 2010

BERAM Kayal acclimatised to life in Glasgow long before he even landed in it.

He has come from a city known for having issues with sectarianism, and from a football culture where the major fixtures dominate the news agenda for days in advance. Now he is in another one. Life in Haifa and Israel has given Celtic’s new midfielder a head start when it comes to knowing what to expect in the west of Scotland.

Kayal is an Arab. He knows that for many who are unfamiliar with Israeli society it is surprising, even startling, that an Arab could integrate and prosper so successfully there. “People see too much television,” he said, alluding to years of coverage of cross-border violence between Israel and Palestine.

“What the television shows about Israel is totally different to what happens. The life between the Jews and the Arabs is very good. I’m an Arab and my agent if Jewish but we’re like family. The Jews and the Arabs live together in Haifa, which is a mixed city. Maccabi Haifa has seven or eight Arab players and that’s normal. The only difference is their religion, but there’s no conflict.”

Both communities are passionate about football. The club scene in the Israeli Premier League includes several vibrant rivalries. Kayal, 22, has spent all his career so far with Maccabi Haifa. Around 550,000 people live in or adjacent to the city and Maccabi’s major fixtures come against the big Tel Aviv clubs. Kayal will draw on his experience of those occasions when the time comes for him to face Rangers.

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