Death to the arabs: the right‐wing fan’s fear

Abstract

The football stadium has become an arena for protest: political, ethnic, nationalistic, etc. In Israel, certain groups of fans use the stadium’s stands to give vent to their anti‐Arab sentiments. ‘Death to the Arabs’ has thus become a common chant in football stadiums. Though the phenomenon is not very new, it has become more popular over the last decade. This phenomenon can be explained using Simmel’s concept of the ‘stranger’. This concept is intertwined with the ongoing Israeli‐Palestinian conflict. Many Israelis consider the Israeli Arabs to be ‘Conditional Strangers’, that is, temporary citizens. Numerous Israelis refuse to accept the presence of Arab citizens in Israel – they want them out of the country. This essay presents the findings of a study of football fans in Israel. The particular issue of this essay is a group of fans (a vociferous minority) who oppose participation of Arab football players on ‘their team’. Contrary to conventional expectations, these fans are not unsophisticated rowdies, but middle‐class political‐ideological right‐wingers, whose rejection of Arab football players on their team is based on a definitive conception of Israel as a Jewish (Zionist) state.

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