After flotilla raid, Sweden wants out of soccer match with Israel
The ripple effects of Monday's bloody raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla could impact Israel's Under-21 team's quest to compete in next year's European Championships.
By Uzi DannThe ripple effects of Monday's bloody raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla could impact Israel's Under-21 team's quest to compete in next year's European Championships.
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Anti-Israel Demonstrators in Stockholm last year. |
| Photo by: AP |
The Swedish Football Association announced Tuesday that it will appeal to European soccer's governing body, UEFA, in a bid to cancel the scheduled appearance of Sweden's U-21 team for a game in Israel this week. Israel and Sweden are due to meet in a critical match on Friday in the qualifying round for the 2011 European Championships.
The Swedish team, which is currently preparing for the match by training in Cyprus, expressed reservations about playing in Israel after hearing news of the raid. The SFA cited "the events and the harsh responses to those events in Sweden and around the world," a reference to Monday morning's Israeli commando operation that left nine dead aboard a ship said to be carrying aid to the Gaza Strip.
"Like all human beings, we deplore violence and are shocked at what we saw," said SFA President Lars-Ake Lagrell.
"It's not pleasant to play in Israel at this juncture," Lagrell said. "But we will not boycott the game [if UEFA instructs us to play] because this is liable to result in harsh sanctions in the long term. Despite this, we would be happy not to play in Israel."
According to Swedish press reports, the Gaza aid flotilla included 11 citizens of the country.
On Monday, the Turkish U-19 soccer team canceled its scheduled game against Israel after it received explicit instructions from the Turkish government to return to the country.
"The Israel Football Association is saddened by the mixture of politics and sports," the IFA said in a statement in response to Turkey's cancellation. "It was possible, and necessary, to hold the game as scheduled."
As for the possibility that the Swedish U-21 team will not play its scheduled match in Israel, an IFA official told the Israeli news portal Walla!: "As of now we have not received any request from the SFA or from UEFA. From our standpoint, everything will take place as scheduled. We have no doubt that Sweden will come to Israel and the game will be played."
Natkho doubtful for match
Bibras Natkho, the midfielder who plays for Russian club Rubin Kazan, is unlikely to play in this Friday's U-21 Euro 2011 qualifier against Sweden.
Natkho is nursing a pulled thigh muscle suffered during the senior national team's friendly match against Chile on Monday. The former Hapoel Tel Aviv star arrived in Israel yesterday and was excused from the U-21 team so that he may rest.
His status for the game will be definitively determined just prior to Friday. U-21 coach Motti Ivanir is expected to have Ben Sahar and Ariel Harush ready to play after the two returned from last week's friendly against Uruguay.
If the game against Sweden goes ahead as planned, it will be played on Friday at 5 P.M. at the Nes Tziona Stadium. The game will also be broadcast live on Channel 1.
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Why should a middle east contry play in European Championships. Geographically Isarel is not Europe, culturally they cut the last ties yesterday by the massacre in the mediterranian
I hope they stay away and take the consequences.
Israel has shown that is a country that repeatedly violates international laws and treaties. Seizing a foreign ship in international waters, killing several, bringing them to an israeli harbour and then accusing these people of entering Israel illegaly is an offense to common sense and a sinister joke. I think israeli soccer and basketball teams should be expelled from european competitions. Turkey has european territories, Israel has not.
We pretend to be a democratic pluralistic society. In the 1930's we banned Kosher slaughter to curb large scale Jewish immigration and though we allowed short term Jewish immigration after the Nazi crimes became known we still profited from the Nazis. We received nearly 38 tons of gold from Nazi Germany. We provided iron ore and ball bearings to feed the Nazi war machine. We profited by converting Nazi gold into Swedish crowns and our largest businesses including Ericsson openly traded with the Nazis. Today we publish libelous articles accusing the most heinous of crimes citing the hearsay of third parties. Today we boycott Jewish, I mean, Israeli companies that work to defend the Jewish State but we don't care about the moral ineptitude of any other country in the region. After all we are not anti-semitic, we're pragmatic. We are to be one of the first Muslim European states and we wish to be as cordial as possible.
this is good excuse of coward team.they just afraid to lose in Israel .
Are these the same people that have no objection training in Cyprus and competing with Turkey? Double Whamey!!
Please dont rate the Swedes to harshly,there is More positive support still for Israel than the other Way.
Does anyone remember the 1972 Munich Olympics? Sports & politics do not mix ever. As an American Jew who lived in Israel for many years I abhor the violence on both sides. Everyone must look at both sides of the picture. Peace can only begin with the children, but as I see it children are learning hatred at a very young age and so violence will continue ad infinitum. I hear so much hatred spewing from both sides that it sickens me. We live in a global community and all need to pull together for the good of all. But this game must take place. To pull out punishes noone but the players and the fans and stokes the evergrowing animosity both sides feel. Good sportsmanship is an important value for all countries to engage in.
incredible to me that, no matter how much they lay waste to people in lebanon, gaza etc and now the open seas, so many israelis continue to see themselves as victims. then again, their plans of conquest depend on it
"The Israel Football Association is saddened by the mixture of politics and sports ..." We used to make this argument in South Africa.
do Swedes cancel games against Turkey? What Turkey does to Kurds is MUCH MUCH worse than what Israel supposedly does to Palestinian Arabs
Israel is a complete save coutry to play in, it has no record of terroist atacks again foreneir teams (by Jewish Israeli's!). In Europe live more radical moslims so is the change of atacks much bigger. If Sweden doesn't wanne play, they just won't enter the European championship...simpel. Politic's are complicated...everybody has their own agenda...should not interfear with sports
Let's not forget Swedish profiteering in the sale of strategic materials to the Nazis. Ha! A moral force? No, just another player in a global war to de-legitimize Israel. Let's boycott Volvo. Sure, I know it's owned by the PRC but it's designed in Sweden. This Volvo family will buy German or Japanese before it gets another Volvo.
You should read Carlo Strenger's article about Israeli bunker mentality, it's good.
... and all the silly matches that are going to be played. We are talking about survival in the poisonous atmosphere of the Middle East and not a yacht tour to the gracious fjords of Scandinavia. The should go and play with Turkey...
that had nationals aboard those ships attacked by Israeli piracy in international waters should refuse to play in Israel or allow Israel to play in their countries. Not until everything is done punitively to show Israel the international community will no longer stand for their occupation and crimes against humanity, should regular games resume. Sweden, expect to have mud thrown in your face, insulted held in contempt but dont give in to these pirates.
I love all of you righteous individuals who come out of the woodwork when Israel is involved. Where was the world outcry like this wek when women and children are being blown up on buses and in cafes? Where was the world outcry when Hamas was launching 8,000 rockets at Israel? The UN can't get an emergency security council meeting together for much worse events in the world. However when Israel is involved the meet faster than ever.
In Sweden, we don't steal land and kill innocent babies and make people suffer.
Also in Sweden 8,000 rockets are not fired from your next door neighbor. Also in Sweden, women and children are not blown to bits by suicide bombers in cafes and on buses. Also in Sweden there is no one that has always sworn they want to get rid of you entirely (even before '67)
of 800 killed pilots in one raid knocked Schweinifurt's ball-bearing plants ,Sweden immediately offered our Swedis ball bearing ,keeping German tanks in business. Besides ,Swedish soldiers are in Afghanistan and they don't exactly distribute flowers there ,they exchange fire ,kill ,and some of them are also killed .
Aftonblodet accusing Israeli soldiers of stealing childrens body parts? Sound familiar? (WWII) Just because your army does not invade countries right now, does not mean you can't do harm harm by not condemning acts of Antisemitism in your precious country.
You also don't have rockets landing in your backyard and daily attempts of suicide bombers to infiltrate your borders to blow themselves up in your local market.
In Sweden you are not surrounded by Islamists bent on elliminating you - at least not yet.
However, Sweden got rid of it's minorities in the 18th and 19th Century.
What can you expect from a second rate country that actively collaborated with the murderous regime in nazi germany? Sweden has nothing else to offer the world except anti-jewish babbling.
The Swedish "collaboration" with Germany was a matter of survival, considering that the Swedish army was in very poor state. Sweden did not support Nazism and participated unofficially by supporting partisans in neighbouring countries and by helping refugees. Sweden also "actively collaborated" with the allies. BTW, what's so second rate about Sweden? Couldn't think of anything more to say than the anti-Semite bit?
do you know how many jews were saved from the nazis by fleeing to sweden or america through sweden and denmark? danish people helped their jewish population flee to sweden and the swedes gladly helped them. sweden never collaborated with the nazis. that is the most stupid thing i have ever heard. you should be grateful to sweden. jews in sweden share the same rights as anyone else. there is absolutely nothing anti-jewish or antisemitic about sweden. swedes just care about those suffering and in need of help. just like they did back in the nazi does that you love to talk so much about
There it is! I've been waiting for a comment like this. Every time someone criticizes Israel the critique will automatically be called anti-semitic. If someone tells Israel to stop breaking international law it's seen as an attack on the jews. When is this country going to stop using the terrible actions that were comitted against the jews during WW2 to justify breaking the law?
sweden is a wonderfull country like germany. open minded, rich and beautifull people. your just jealous! stop feeling as a victim!
"The Israel Football Association is saddened by the mixture of politics and sports" Or better say "....mixture of murder and sports"
Why are Israel playing in UEFA in the first place?
if they were in the Asian division, there would be mass arab boycotts or Munich Version 2. UEFA allowed them to join in order to prevent this
Well, Sweden only has to go back 65 years and its assistance to the Nazis to back its current stance. Was it not Jesus who said: let those without sin cast the first stone?
It is disrespectful (and it looks silly) to call anyone who disagrees with actions of the Israeli state an anti-Semite.
Sweden was neutral and gave concessions to Germany and the Allies, they didn't really "assist the nazis", they tried to keep the war outside their borders. Most importantly, the neutrality meant that Sweden managed to save more jews than any other nation during the conflict, including the 8000 danish jews. Then of course, we had Count Folke Bernadotte who managed to get the Nazi's to release prisoners from the koncentration camps, this including jews. The irony, of course, is that he ended up murdered by Jewish terrorists in Israel.
jesus has nothing to do with this. swedes are an enlightened people. jesus means nothing in swedish politics. we dont mix bronze age myths with politics like certain other states do. such as iran and israel and saudi arabia and usa. sweden was a safehaven for thousands of jews under ww2. swedes never assisted the nazis. thousands upon thousands of jews escaped to america through sweden. jews enjoy absolutely the same right as anybody else in sweden. sweden is a democracy and its laws is not based upon religon and doesent discriminate people because of their etnicity or religion. however we see such a discrimination going on in israel in fact the whole law is racist. the law of return only enable jews to apply for citizenship for example. you know nothing about the world. stop the self-pity. stop living in the past. and stop connecting accusing all who dont agree with you for anti-semitism and being nazi-collaboraters.
UEFA will force the Swedes to play. The last time I checked, Israel was in Asia, not Europe. Can Lebanon or Jordan play in UEFA tournaments too?
Israel plays in UEFA tournaments because Arab countries mix politics and sport and refuse to play against Israel. You may remember when Israeli tennis players were banned from a tournament in Dubai...
but rather anti Israeli policies. If Israel was to announce today, that the siege of Gaza would be lifted and the Arab peace plan adopted, you would find the same people voicing support for Israeli policies.
Sweden would do well to remember that they occupied Finland once. So they shouldn't go pointing fingers.
Sweden has occupied a bunch of countries, and Swedish soldiers have no doubt committed thousands of atrocities against civilians of Sweden and many other countries. However there are some logical flaws to your reasoning. First of all two wrongs don't make one right, it is so tiresome to have to explain this to people over and over again, I wish people thought a bit before posting. If you read in the paper that someone got killed in a bar fight yesterday that doesn't mean that you think that it is OK for you to go out and kill someone too, does it? Oh and by the way, Sweden hasn't been in a war for about 200 years, I think it is safe to assume that most of the people who were involved in the occupation of Finland are dead by now. What do you think it says about Israel that it acts like a colonial power from 200 years ago?
Because what happened in the 13th century has relevance today? And it wasn't really an occupation either, so I'd suggest you should read up on your history. Rather, if you'd want an better example, use Norway.
Maybe Israel should do the same as Sweden...
If a nation acts in an unreasonable and unjust way for a long time (here: about 15 years), you have to expect that this negative image is also applied to its citizen. After all, who voted for these horrible governments? So, sorry for all those Israelis who now suffer under their nation's incredible shrinking popularity, but, right or wrong, your country. If you want to have friends, vote for a more friendly government first.
"If you want to have friends, vote for a more friendly government first" -direct it at Gazans. Sweden is awashed with PC followers of hypocrite Olof Palme. He himself was peddling Swedish Bofors guns to both India and Pakistan ,while on official UN "Peace Mission" to theses countries He left a fortune to his wife ,fortune which couldn't be explained by his official income. His favorites like Eva Myrdal and Sverke Äström had a past within Nazi ideologies ,Myrdal as the founder of The Institute for Racial Hygiene in Stockholm and Äström as a member of the Swedish Nazi Party. They ended up as the Swedish Peace Ambassador to UN and Director General of the Foreign Ministry respectively Thery are deceased now but Carl Bildt is their pupil. ,filmed kissing Erich Honect shortly before DDR's collapse. Condemnations coming from these quarters are ridiculous.
Come on, do you really think that the fact that Gazans voted for a radical government is an alibi for Israelis doing the same? Shouldn't you be better than that? More reasonable, better educated, the "only democracy in the middle east"? You want to say, just because there are crazy people in other countries, this gives you the right to behave insanely, too? This "logic" is mindboggling...
This is to be considdered another swedish political protest to Israels policies, that is if the match is not played. There are no security threats to the swedish team what so ever in Israel. Israel is to my knowledge the only country that Sweden has made such remarks to. Not Russia, China, Sudan, Iran or what have you.
Judah, which enlightened nation do you belong to?
Our country is known for its peaceloving people, we have not been in wars for the past 200 years, we havent occupied other peoples land in centruies, our democracy is a role model for the world. We were the first country in the world to give women voting rights, at that time Israel did not even exist!!!!
Don't forget Sven, the Swedish did not exactly stand against Hitler until it was "Fashonable" and I think you know that sometimes not taking a stand is taking a stand....take a hard look at the Aftonbladet newspaper not recalling articles about Israeli soldiers selling body parts of Palestinian children and tell me again you are peace loving country.
First of all you werent first in allowing womens suffrage. In fact, you were the last of the nordic countries to do so. And while you certainly belive so (swedes are well known to be cold and aloof), i'd say few countries take any real notice of you. Oh, and about the whole war thing: Thanks for having our back when the nazis invaded. /sarcasm Love from a Dane
Sweden supplied heavy water for the Nazi War Machine, along with other weaponry Your pride is misplaced, you helped support a illing machine that was responsible for killing more than 60 million people during World War Two
swedish are the most pretty people in the world
It took Europe ca. 900 years to get its act together to get to some semblance of so-called unity with the last major war only being a blink of an eye in historical terms ca. 70 years ago. Which also brings to your point about no involvement in wars... Sweden supplied and went against British and Nazi forces. It was a 'passive' belligerent. Democracy role model topic... ehh... nothing exciting... this is farted out by other nations. "we havent occupied other peoples land in centruies" You are boasting about this? What you think you deserve a pat on the back that you were forced out of territories that were forcibly obtained by your greed and ambitions? And loosing your last colonial territories in the late 19th century does not constitute as 200 years. As for the connotation about colonialism and Israel, you are clearly ignorant. There has been a Jewish presence in the Levant and in particular the holy cities (Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, Shechem, Tiberias). I have a lineage that goes back 600 years in Hebron - which by the way was ethnically cleansed by the Arabs of Jews in 1929 in progroms) and you have the gall to call me a foreign entity!?! "We were the first country in the world to give women voting rights, at that time Israel did not even exist!!!! " Big woof! When Israel was established everyone was given voting rights, no matter gender, religion, age. And that decision did not take several hundred years for male chauvinists to decide it was ok for a woman to vote.