PORQUE ISRAEL NÃO VAI PARTICIPAR DA COPA DO MUNDO?

Shalom and welcome back to ‘Israel with Aline!’ The World Cup in Qatar has started and today we are going to talk about why Israel is not participating in the World Cup and what they are talking in Israel about it. So, if you’re ready, let’s get started! Israelis love soccer, it is Israel’s favorite sport and yet Israel is not participating in the World Cup, and this year’s World Cup is being held in Qatar, one of the 14 countries in the world that do not recognize the existence of the State of Israel and forbid Israelis from entering. The other countries are Afghanistan, Algeria, Brunei, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. But before we talk about what’s happening in 2022, let’s go back in time. Israel has only qualified for the World Cup once in history, which was for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico and it was a huge joy and celebration here in Israel, everybody was proud of Israel participating in their first World Cup. And they were really very happy to participate in the World Cup, even though Israel didn’t even go to the second round, Israel played only three games; 2-0 to Uruguay, 0-0 to Italy and the 1-1 draw with Sweden. That is, the only goal Israel scored in the World Cup was by Mordechai Spiegler. And the winner of this same 1970 World Cup was Brazil, who were three-time World Champions then. And Israel was ranked twelfth, which is not a wonderful result, but all of Israel was very proud and happy, the state had only been born a short time ago, Israel had only 22 years of independence, so just to participate in the World Cup was really a national pride. But after this Cup the problems started: Israel is in Asia, as you can see on this map we are literally in Asia. And Israel played all the competitions as Asia, even Israel was champion of the 1964 Asian Soccer Cup and in between those competitions Israel played the World Cup qualifiers for Asia. But in 1974 Kuwait, which is a small Arab Muslim country organized a plan against Israel, they led a vote to expel Israel from The Asian Football Confederation. And the vote was as follows: 17 votes for expelling Israel, 13 votes against and 6 abstentions. So Israel was expelled from The Asian Football Confederation, and that means that Israel can now no longer compete in the World Cup qualifiers as Asia. And this is exactly where FIFA should come in, FIFA who regulates soccer in the world, they should come in and intervene and not let politics dictate how soccer should be played. And literally try to “change the map of the world”, but FIFA instead of fighting with 17 Muslim majority countries, they decide to do nothing and Israel will be expelled and will be left without any support from FIFA, Israel will be left in the lurch. And now there is a big problem: how can Israel play in the World Cup if Israel cannot participate in the World Cup qualifiers? Sport has the ability to bring peoples, countries and people together, and politics should not influence sport but unfortunately this is not always the reality. And so after the expulsion, Israel spent the next twenty years playing each time for a different federation, Israel played as Oceania, played as Europe, and even played some games registered by Conmebol, that is, as South America. And it was really a very complicated period for the sport and especially for soccer in Israel. And finally in 1994, Israel was accepted as a member of UEFA; the Union of European Football Associations. And so Israel plays the World Cup qualifiers as Europe, the positive side of this is that Israel really had to improve their level a lot. Israeli teams play in the Champions League and other European Leagues, really among the best teams in the world, Israel can also play with them. The downside of this is that now to qualify for the world cup is even more difficult Israel is now not playing the Asian countries anymore, but Israel is playing against Germany, France, Italy, Spain and so many others that make it much more difficult or almost impossible for Israel to qualify for the cup. And Israel then also failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar. And even though Israel does not usually play thousands of Israelis travel every time to watch and cheer for other countries at the World Cup. In 2022 it is estimated that between 10 and 20 thousand Israelis will go to Qatar for the Cup. But how is it possible if the entrance of Israelis is forbidden, completely forbidden in Qatar? An exception was made; for the first time in history, Israelis will be able to enter Qatar and that’s why a new flight had to be created, a direct flight from Tel Aviv to Doha was created for the first time, it was a flight, just for you understand how close we are to each other, it’s a direct flight of three hours, but no Israeli company made this flight but a company from Cyprus called Tus Air made this historic inaugural flight. So really history is being made in this Cup, as thousands of Israelis boarded the flight to Qatar. And on this flight, Jewish Israelis, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, I mean, everyone, every type of Israeli population, everybody went together because of soccer. Despite this, many Israelis are still afraid and fearful of flying to Qatar, a country that is not a friend of Israel and has no diplomatic relations. But despite all that, again more than 10,000 Israelis are going to Qatar. The estimates that they talk about here in Israel are between 10 and 20 thousand, some people even estimate up to 30 thousand Israelis in Qatar. But this also causes fear in the Israeli government and that’s why they created this video that you are watching instructing the Israeli population to take care and protect themselves in Qatar. “Will they go to the World Cup? From my experience, of having played with the best players in the world, It will be a once in a lifetime experience, but in Qatar the rules are a little different. Behave appropriately. So guys,
here are some rules that will keep you safe: that about defense I understand, pay attention! The consumption of alcohol and all kinds of drugs are completely forbidden. And prison sentences are long and fines are high. Avoid arguments with the local population and the fans because you can be arrested.” Despite all the problems with the Cup in Qatar, which are not necessarily few, this Cup is going to go down in history, not necessarily for soccer but for the change that this Cup is making in the Middle East. For the first time, Israelis were allowed to enter Qatar, and we are talking about thousands of Israelis now on Qatari soil. The first direct flight from Tel Aviv to Doha has taken place and Israeli journalists are covering the Cup, literally speaking in Hebrew, wearing Hebrew written equipment through the streets of Qatar which has caused a lot of very different scenes during the last days. Some journalists have been cursed at, some journalists have been frowned upon some people didn’t want to talk to the Israeli journalists, but also some did. One of the scenes that came out here in the Israeli news is Iranians who saw an Israeli journalist covering Iran’s game against Wales and it was Iran’s victory and now look at this clip: “They just put glasses on me and it shows the joy and craziness that is here, it is hard to explain what happened in the stadium, the crowd was part of the game they boosted the players and Iran played better than Wales today.” All these people that you saw in the video, they are Iranians and they know that the journalist is from Israel and they are happy celebrating Iran’s victory. It is really a beautiful image that you don’t see happening here in the Middle East. The moment the cup is over in Qatar, their doors will again be closed for Israelis, again Israelis will be forbidden to enter Qatar, but the fact that they are there now is the first step. And maybe it is the first step towards a future peace, in the last years we have seen something that seemed impossible, The Abraham agreements: Israel has made peace agreements with the Arab Emirates, with Bahrain, with Morocco, and with Sudan. And other countries will probably join the agreements in the next years. Part of the countries that in 1974 voted to expel Israel from The Asian Football Confederation now have peace agreements. Sport can bring people together, one example is Israelis cheering side by side with Arabs in the World Cup, and another example is the Israeli national team itself, the current captain is Bibras Natkho who is an Israeli Muslim from Galilee. I do not know if you are watching this video and plan to follow the World Cup or not but here in Israel this Cup is being talked about a lot, a Cup that can change the history of Israel and the history of the Middle East, even though Israel is not competing, the Israelis are following closely both by soccer and politics. And I want you to know that here they support several countries in the world but most Israelis are rooting for Brazil in the World Cup, and every time there’s a Brazil game all Israeli TV stops to watch the World Cup and we’re going to see a little bit of this love of Israel for Brazil and also for Brazilian soccer: [Narrator] Goal! [Narrator] “What a great goal!” And as you heard, even “golaço” they know how to say it in Portuguese, so know that here in Israel the Israelis are rooting for Brazil in the Cup and have a lot of love for Brazil. But that’s all I had to tell you today, thank you for watching this video, subscribe to our channel for more content from Israel and see you next time!