 |
| Founded | 2005 |
|---|---|
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Territory | Jerusalem |
| Ethnicity | Mainly Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews |
| Activities | Football hooliganism, riots, vandalism |
La Familia is an ultras group which supports the Israeli Premier League club Beitar Jerusalem. [1] The group primarily consists of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish descendants of the Jewish exodus from Arab countries and is known for its far-right, nationalist extremism. [2] [3]
La Familia first organized in 2005 and congregated in the eastern sections of Teddy Stadium. Estimates of the group's size varies with a reporter putting the number at a few hundred, [4] while a leader said that it encompassed a network of 3,000 supporters. [5] In 2008, a BBC correspondent said that the group was about 20% of the crowd. They are the most vocal in the stadium, and some local fans follow their gameday chants. [4] [5]
The club's history is intertwined with the Betar Zionist youth movement, and has since been supported by several Israeli politicians on the political right. La Familia has similarly been labeled far-right and is openly against those they view as being on the left. [6] [7] Beitar has publicly condemned the group, going as far as barring its supporters from a match. [8] Some Beitar fans have expressed embarrassment over the organization and openly oppose their ideals. [8] [9]
The group is notorious for chants insulting Arab players, and for displaying the flag of the banned Kach party. [4] Chants with lines including "death to the Arabs" [6] and "Muhammad is a homosexual" [10] are common.
During a December 2007 Toto Cup semi-final game between Beitar Jerusalem and the Israeli-Arab team Bnei Sakhnin, La Familia sang provocative chants insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Israel Football Association (IFA) punished Beitar by forcing them to play their next game against Sakhnin with no fans present. Vandals set fire to the IFA's offices and left graffiti threatening the life of the IFA chairman. The graffiti included the initials "LF" for La Familia, but the group denied involvement. [11] [12] Bnei Sakhnin is the only Arab-Israeli club in the Premier League. Matches between the clubs often result in violence and arrests. [13]
Beitar was disciplined in 2008 after fans disrupted a minute of silence to mark the death of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Later that year La Familia led a pitch invasion in what would have been a title-clinching win against Maccabi Herzliya. The IFA deducted two points from Beitar and ordered that the next game be played behind closed doors. [14] [15] In December 2011, fans yelled "Give Toto a banana" [4] towards Nigerian-born Toto Tamuz. The IFA again punished Beitar with a two-point deduction and another game in an empty stadium.
Supporters stormed the Malha Mall after a match in March 2012 while chanting "Death to Arabs". It was reported that Arab workers were harassed and beaten. [16] A few months later, a group of Beitar fans attacked a McDonald's where Arabs were among the staff. [17]
The group was adamantly against the signing of Nigerian Muslim Ibrahim Nadallah who lasted half a season in 2005 and discouraged Muslims from joining the team, stating "the extremists won't change". The 2013 transfer of two Chechen Muslims, Dzhabrail Kadiyev and Zaur Sadayev raised anger from the supporters. [8] Members of La Familia set a team office on fire after the announcement. Fans walked out of a match in March that saw Sadayev score his first goal for Beitar. [18] As of December 2020, no Arabs have ever played for Beitar, unlike other top Israeli clubs, [16] which is attributed to the group's protests. [8]
During the second qualifying round of the Europa League, on 16 July 2015 at Sporting Charleroi, the game was delayed for three minutes due to the unruly behavior of the Israeli supporters when they threw flares on to the game's field and the Charleroi goalkeeper, Nicolas Penneteau, was hit by an object. [19] This caused the owner, Eli Tabib, to decide to leave the club. [20]
In 2016, undercover police infiltrated La Familia over a one month period, resulting in 56 arrests including nine soldiers and two minors on suspicion of selling weapons and violence. [19]
On 12 October 2023, dozens of La Familia members attempted to enter the Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer after reports emerged that a Hamas terrorist from the 2023 Israel–Hamas war had been treated there. Three members were arrested by police. [21]
Bnei Sakhnin F.C. is an Israeli football club based at the Doha Stadium in Sakhnin. They are the most successful club among the Arab-Israeli clubs in the country, having won the State Cup in 2004.
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Beitar Jerusalem Football Club, commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem or simply as Beitar (בית"ר), is an Israeli football club based in the city of Jerusalem, that plays in the Israeli Premier League, the top tier in Israeli football. The club has traditionally worn kit colours of yellow and black. The team has played its home matches in Teddy Stadium. The stadium is the largest stadium in Israel with a capacity of 31,733.
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The 2007–08 Israeli Premier League season began on 18 August 2007 and ended on 1 June 2008, with Beitar Jerusalem win their second consecutive title.
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Zaur Umarovich Sadayev is a Russian former professional footballer of Chechen origin.
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The 2007–08 Toto Cup Al was the 24th season of the third most important football tournament in Israel since its introduction and the third edition involving Premier League clubs only.
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This is a list of the main association football rivalries in Israel.
"Death to Arabs" or "Death to the Arabs" is a slogan commonly used by Jewish extremists across Israel and the West Bank. Depending on the person's temperament, it may specifically be an expression of anti-Palestinian sentiment or otherwise a more broad expression of anti-Arab sentiment, which includes non-Palestinian Arabs. It is widely condemned as racist and hateful in nature, with some observers asserting that it manifests genocidal intent. The slogan is primarily invoked during confrontations with Palestinians in the West Bank, where it is a popular rallying cry for revenge attacks in response to killings of Israelis by Palestinians, though it may also be used against Israeli Arabs during times of inter-ethnic civil unrest within Israel. It is typically chanted at marches in Jerusalem and at football matches, and has also appeared in graffiti vandalism; it is a recurrent aspect of Israeli settler violence in the West Bank.