By David Gold
July 17 – Israeli giants Beitar Jerusalem have been sold to US businessmen Dan Adler and Adam Levine (pictured), who have pledged to stamp out racism at the club, whose fans have a history of anti-Arab chanting.
They bought the club from Russian-born billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak, to whom they are not believed to have paid a fee, instead stepping in to tackle the club’s spiralling debts and restore stability to the team, which won the Israeli Premier League in 2007 and 2008, but has since struggled and finished a lowly 11th in the 16 team league last season.
The far right “La Familia” group welcomed the sale cautiously, saying that they would not welcome attempts by the pair to sign an Arab-Jewish player for Beitar, and to date they are the only major Israeli club not to have signed an Arab player.
Previous owner Gaydamak, the father of former Portsmouth owner Alexandre, attempted to sign an Arab player, Abbas Suan, during his tenure, but dropped the plans after opposition from supporters.
Gaydamak also made a donation to Bnei Sakhnin, an Arab team competing in the Israeli league after they were relegated from the country’s Premier League, to help prevent them folding, which caused uproar among the club faithful.
The sale of the club came after their chairman Itzik Kornfein said that the team faced the prospect of going into liquidation if new owners weren’t found, as Gaydamak had stopped funding Beitar.
The arrival of the new owners could cause concern among the Beitar fans as former Democratic congressional candidate Adler is known for left wing political leanings and activism, and has been a prominent supporter of the creation of a Palestinian state.
Levine is the chief executive of Criterion Capital Partners, owners of social networking website Bebo.
Beitar’s fans have frequently been in trouble with Israeli authorities for racism, and have been forced to play matches behind closed doors and faced points deductions for their behaviour.
Israeli authorities have even used undercover investigators to identify and prosecute fans guilty of the anti-Arab chanting.
And last year the club closed down the stand occupied by the far right “ultras”, who instead were forced to spread around the stadium, leading to a confrontation with more moderate fans who booed their chanting during a game against Hapoel Ramat Gan.
Adler told Israeli daily Jerusalem Post that he was determined to change the club’s image.
“It is our absolute and committed goal to make sure that soon people will say, ‘Wasn’t that the club that once used to have an issue like that?’
“We want people to realise that the real spirit of Jerusalem is one of absolute diversity with an incredibly broad spectrum of people and views.
“That is also what the spirit of sport is, and that’s what Beitar ought to be celebrating.”
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