Soccer club calls in police over anti-Semitic abuse of Israeli player
Published May 13, 2013
(JTA) — Managers of an English soccer club have contacted police to investigate online anti-Semitic abuse of an Israeli player.
The Guardian daily reported last week that the Chelsea Football Club contacted police after Yossi Benayoun on May 7 revealed on Twitter that he was subjected to abuse on that social media site.
Benayoun, a midfielder for the club whose contract runs out at the end of the season, retweeted a message which contained expletives and referred to him being Jewish.
The tweet read: “f**in Jew a**hole” and was written in reply to a message by Benayoun in which he thanked his followers for their birthday greetings. “Some nice people in the world,” Benayoun wrote in a response to the abusive message.
Last month, Chelsea said it would investigate after Benayoun said he was the victim of anti-Semitic taunts from his own supporters when he came on as a substitute against Liverpoo.
He was booed as he came on as a late substitute during the 2-2 draw. Also then he took to Twitter after the match to inform a wide audience of the abuse.
He wrote: “The booing came from (a) small part of the Chelsea fans (that have) been doing it since I did an interview about Torres There is some other issues the club is taking care (of) and try to handle them in the right way … as sometimes people are crossing the limit. And I’m sure the club will sort it.”