Egypt referee: Israel a 'cancerous tumor'

[oberliner]

Whatever happened to the notion that a professional referee – in any sport – is supposed to maintain an objective, non-biased view?

That is certainly not the case when it comes to Nasser Sadeq Abdel Naby, an Egyptian soccer referee, who recently made his feelings about the Jewish state known to all.“This Zionist Entity is planted, like a cancerous tumor, in the body of the Arab and Islamic nation,” the referee said in a recent interview with Egyptian television. “We must tear it out and, until we do, we must fight it as much as we can.”

“We hope to shake UEFA and FIFA, so that Israel can never again organize a World Cup or any other championship,” Abdel Naby said, referring to the fact that Israel is hosting this summer’s European Under-21 Championship.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4336000,00.html

[TexasTowelie]

1. My brother says the same thing about me.

And of course, I must be excised.

[Scootaloo]

2. Well... Okay then?

Slow news day or something? I'm sorry but... since when has anyone off the field been expected to give a damn what a referee every says about anything?

[Mosby]

3. an article about making a dinner reservation in israel made world news

http://www.google.com/search?q=%27Mahmoud%27+can%27t+get+table+at+an+Israeli+eatery%2C+but+%27Tamir%27+can&btnG=&hl=en

The thread here had almost 100 replies.

[Scootaloo]

4. Do a DU search for "Chik-fil-A"

You'll find well over a hundred threads averaging 40 posts, several of which are 100+ post threads. Restaurants discriminating against their customers strikes a resonance with most Americans. We have a history with it, you know...



Also, two other things... the US tends to expect more of Israel than of Egypt. And like it or not, that's not because we're irrational antisemite motherfuckers as some posters believe, but because Israel presents itself as an enlightened, egalitarian western nation, and its neighbors - including Egypt - as barbarous sub-human monsters whose only thought is for eating Jewish babies or something.... and Americans tend to buy it. So when that egalitarian, enlightened western nation is "exposed" as having racism in its ranks (quotes because come the fuck on, name me a western nation that DOESN'T have the same damn problems...) it's going to garner more comment than an Egyptian calling Israel a "cancer" - ho hum, that's what we tend to believe Arabs all do all day anyway.

My reaction is largely indifference to both. I don't give a fuck what some soccer ref from Egypt thinks, really. Nor do I really care if some restaurant manager in Israel is a cockhead. If the former is censured by his organization, then he earned it (though I don't think he will be.) Similarly if the manager's business is boycotted, then he'll have earned that too (he wasn't, as far as I know)

[delrem]

5. +1

I figure it might also be because for some reason it's de rigueur that any US politician vociferously affirm, multiple times, that "there's no daylight between Israel and the USA". This is more necessary than that the politician wear a US flag lapel pin.

I guess this is done in order to prove to the american electorate who has whom on a leash - so american citizens can freely choose their master. Myself, I think it's a weird and counter-intuitive relationship between countries. But it's a fact.

To be sure, no such relationship exists between the USA and any other country, including any of the countries of NATO, to say nothing of Egypt.