Beitar J’lem cancels match with Barcelona

Barça wanted game outside capital

Beitar Jerusalem owner Moshe Hogeg has canceled a friendly soccer match between his team and FC Barcelona after the Catalonians wanted it to be played outside Jerusalem.

“After I got the contract to sign and was exposed to the unequivocal demand that the game not take place in the capital, Jerusalem, and a few other demands that I did not like, I slept with a heavy heart, thought a lot and decided that first of all I am a proud Jew and Israeli,” he wrote on Facebook.

“I bought Beitar Jerusalem out of love for the holy capital,” Hogeg wrote. “I fought a bitter war against racism, and I will continue to fight it. I promote coexistence and am for peace. At the same time, a game against Beitar Jerusalem deserves to take place in Jerusalem, and if the motive for its not taking place in Jerusalem is political and I submit to it, I will not be [at peace] with myself. I cannot betray Jerusalem.”

Palestinians called for boycotting the Barcelona soccer team after it was reported that