The Israeli Premier League rarely makes global headlines in the way its counterparts do.
That changed in 2020 with the news that a UAE royal was to take a 50% stake in Beitar Jerusalem FC, the only team in a league where all ethnicities co-exist never to have signed an Arab player, proclaimed by its own fans as ‘the most racist club in the country’. In On the Border: The Rise and Decline of the Most Political Club in the World football journalist Shaul Adar tells the fascinating journey from sports movement of a liberal national Zionism party to an overt symbol of right-wing views, Mizrahi identity and eventually hardcore nationalism. In conversation with The Goldberg Variations author Mark Glanville.

An event from Jewish Book Week 2024