Troubled Israeli football club is sold to a French businessman
AN ISRAELI football club that became a symbol of the country’s new friendship with neighbouring Arab states is being sold off to a French businessman as its embattled owner faces sexual abuse and fraud charges.
Beitar Jerusalem, which counts former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu among its fans, made headlines in 2020 after an Emirati royal announced plans to become its co-owner and vowed to crack down on its racist fans.
The deal was partly made possible by an historic treaty signed by Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain that normalised relations and unlocked trade deals worth millions of dollars.
But a year on, the arrangement with Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Nahyan has collapsed amid claims of financial misconduct, while its owner, Moshe Hogeg, is under house arrest after being accused of a massive fraud and sex crimes.
It is a dramatic change in fortune for the club, one of the most popular in
Israel, which has struggled to cast off a reputation for anti-arab sentiment among its fans.
On Thursday, it announced that it would be sold to Stefan Malul, a French businessman, but did not disclose if a price had been agreed.
It comes several weeks after Mr Hogeg was arrested on suspicion of fraud, underage prostitution, sex trafficking and sexual harassment, according to The Times of Israel.
Mr Hogeg, who bought the club in 2018, denies all the allegations.
Before his arrest, he announced plans to sell the club, saying he could not tolerate the anti-arab racism of its “ungrateful” fans.
Beitar Jerusalem suspended its plans to sell 50 per cent of the club to Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Nahyan in February 2021. The decision followed a finding by Israel’s football association of a “significant gap” between his declared wealth and his financial assets.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph in 2020, Mr Hogeg was optimistic about the proposed sale.“when I spoke with Sheikh Hamad, I saw first of all a person who was very intelligent, but who also shared my ideology of coexistence and of being brave,” he said at the time. “If we succeed, I think we can inspire a lot of people worldwide.”
The Beitar crowd’s infamous farright hooligan element, La Familia, is known to chant “death to Arabs” during matches, as well as “we are, the most racist football team in the country”.
The club has never fielded an Arab player, even though Arabs comprise 20 per cent of Israel’s population.