Reli Margalit is a true Israeli patriot, standing up for the values of Israel’s Declaration of Independence.
The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture…
Margalit confronted racist fans of the Beitar Jerusalem football club and was beaten for her trouble.
Haaretz reports:
Dozens of Beitar Jerusalem soccer fans marched in Jerusalem chanting anti-Arab slogans on their way to a match on Sunday – and beat a woman who objected, the woman said.
Police are launching an investigation into the attack, after being criticized for failing to immediately investigate Beitar fans’ attack last month on Arab workers in the capital’s Malha Mall [see here].
Reli Margalit, a 50-year-old musician from Jerusalem’s Nayot neighborhood, said a fan hit her on the head while they were marching from Sacher Park to Teddy Stadium. Beitar beat Hapoel Acre 1-0 in the Premier League match.
“I heard cries of ‘Death to the Arabs,’ and since I was still incensed by the Malha Mall attack, I decided that I had to confront them now,” she said. “I made a sign reading ‘Down with Beitar’s racism.’ I believed that since I’m not a young woman and since I was alone, at worst it would come to curses, no more.”
But it seems Margalit was wrong.
“Within seconds they surrounded me and started spitting at me,” she said. “They took away my sign, and one of them – actually an older fan – hit me on the head with the pole of his flag. None of the fans protected me, and one girl showed up and tried to argue with me.”
After a few seconds the fans continued on their way.
Margalit said she doesn’t regret her action.
“I felt that I did my bit,” she said. “They all saw me standing there, and there was one kid who was truly shocked by what he saw.”
…..
Beitar Jerusalem spokesman Assaf Shaked said the team “cannot be responsible to all its supporters’ actions.”
It’s clear by now that Beitar’s management has absolutely no intention of trying to deal with the sickening behavior of large numbers of the team’s fans. When is the Israeli football federation going to do something?
