The JC reports that the Rabbi who accompanied Salita witnessed assaults and a torrent of anti Semitic abuse hurled at the Rabbi and other orthodox Jews.
My own view is that these allegations have nothing to do with sour grapes by the Salita entourage. From some of the unspeakable emails I've been getting about Salita and from a simple Google Analytic keyword report about "Muslim beating a Jew" my own data sadly backs up what the Rabbi is saying.
However, without in any sense justifying what clearly appears criminal racist behaviour by a minority of supporters why on earth did Salita seem to try and make his faith paramount to the fight as this report indicates.
I deliberately held back from writing about the "God will help me win fight against Khan" article until after the fight in the full knowledge how provocative it could be to some racist idiots at the fight. From the opposite spectrum Amir Khan did his level best to downplay the religious significance and I discreetly criticised Salita in the same article by saying:
I wonder if Amir Khan and Salita should just keep quiet and not respond to questions about their opponents faith.
A Muslim and a Jew have every right to talk about the importance of their respective faiths however, in the context of a boxing fight I'm afraid its the height of naivety to not expect such talk maybe a red rag for some nutters. Admittedly, a sad indictment of the society we live in.
As a Jewish American with sadly limited exposure to Muslim viewpoint, I am very pleased to hear a voice of reason representing a faith supposedly at odds with my own. I could not agree more that to bring faith into the boxing ring is childish and inappropriate. I can only hope that what I'm reading hear is more truly representative of European Muslim sentiment than what is shown in the American media. Unfortunately, the media distorts facts and I can assure you that any images you may have seen of anti-Islam activity in Israel or elsewhere is truly an inconsequential minority.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I would like to state my admiration for Amir Kahn's skill as well as his professionalism and the professionalism of his organization. As a viewer I would like to express my shock and disappointment that a significant percentage of the crowd that night booed and hurled anti-semitic abuse at Salita and the Rabbi that accompanied him. The saddest part is the fact that a spokesperson for the boxing venue said they had not been aware of any abuse during the match". It is their job to be aware of what happens during a match. If the crowd behaves in a racist manner and greets a foreign athlete with vitriolic hatred, denying the fact that it happened is nothing more than a cover up and an anti-semitic act in itself. Clearly abusing a Jewish fighter is considered to be acceptable by the venue and that is sad indeed.
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