WhatsappI have to admit, I have a hidden love of soccer. Every 4 years I get addicted again, to what the rest of the world refers to as “football”. Ever since I was a little girl I have been following the game. My grandfather, David Lew of blessed memory, the rabbi’s son, loved to tell us that he used to sneak away from his father’s synagogue secretly to play his favorite sport with his Polish classmates. That was before his bar mitzvah – his thirteenth birthday. Soon after, the fires of the Holocaust consumed not only his own family but the entire Jewish community of Krynki, Poland. Only he and three others survived the hell of the Shoah.
But my grandfather’s love for life and football continued. And while building a new life in New York, he transferred these loves to his kids and grandkids. I, as the oldest grandchild, had the wonderful opportunity to attend multiple games of the defunct NY Cosmos with him. When it got too cold, we went to the indoor NY Arrows games as well. I even saw the GOAT – Pele at one of the games.
I caught World Cup or “Mondial” fever (as it’s known worldwide) in 1986 during my first trip to Israel. One couldn’t miss the great Argentinian Diego Maradona madness that was apparent everywhere. In the streets, on the TVs, even on the Coke cans. It was electrifying and the finals were a work of athletic art, and “a hand of God”. Since then I have joined millions watching gripping football for two weeks straight, every four years and enjoy the best soccer in the world. I know it can be perceived as boring but 89 minutes of defensive play can be overcome instantly by one glorious series of ball handling, headers and scissor kicks over the pitch that end in a goal.
This year was different. The unease of having the World Cup in Qatar, after the scandalous way the county obtained the rights to host, was unpleasant and disappointing to say the least. And the reports of the unprecedented human rights abuses and over 6000 worker deaths preparing the country’s stadiums to hold the influx of teams and fans, horrifying.
I always hope to believe that sports supersedes politics. Just like science should have no borders, countries with no contact or even enemy status are able to find common ground in athletics. But not this year. This year the World Cup has been an endless commercial of support for the “Palestinian cause” with each game showing an endless sea of green, red and black flags appearing in the stands of tens of thousands. It is almost like the flag has been given out as swag to the many fans of Arab and African nations. Propaganda in the form of sports.
Qatar has been linked to funding terror organizations throughout the Middle East including Hamas, as well as supporting Iran. And the Qataris have an agenda in this World Cup. It is the blatant and obvious use of the Palestinian Authority flag in the stands and on the field to throw shade and gaslight the other critical issues currently consuming the Middle East such as the ongoing rebellion by the people in Iran against the despotic, murderous and fundamentalist Islamic regime who is currently shooting and publically hanging protesters. Of this obliteration of human rights, you hear nary a peep. The Iranian team that bravely refused to sing the Iranian anthem in support of the protesters during their first match paid for that infraction with threats to their family’s safety in Iran.
The incredible success of the Abraham Accords has been waved away by a now-eliminated Moroccan team supplied with a huge flag of the Palestinian Authority displayed in the official picture. It’s another way to rewrite the current narrative of the Middle East – where peace is thriving between former enemies, and true enemies of peace are being challenged internally by their own people fed up with a despotic, fundamentalist dictatorship ruling their dress and curtailing basic freedoms.
And so, while I truly appreciated Tuesday night’s masterful play by another Argentinian great-Lionel Messi and his team in their decisive victory over Croatia to gain entrance to the finals, and a consecutive final appearance by France, I cannot fully enjoy the beauty of the sport marred by messages of hate, obvious and hidden being broadcast to millions around the world from the stands and from the field. All this coordinated in conjunction with a country that supports terrorist regimes throughout the Middle East, financially supports terror groups and sends political messages by exploiting its status as host of the largest international sporting event.
Sports should have no politics, and it is up to all of us to keep that a reality.
