Multiple Israelis have reported an atmosphere of hostility and hatred at the World Cup in Qatar, with fans refusing to speak to Israeli journalists, waving Palestinian flags in the background of their videos and yelling at them.
Moav Vardy, KAN’s foreign affairs reporter, was yelled at by a Saudi fan, who told him that “You are not welcome here, this is Qatar, this is our country, there is only Palestine, no Israel.”
“You are not welcome here..”A Saudi football fan refuses to talk to an Israeli reporter during the #FIFAWorldCup2022 in Qatar. pic.twitter.com/toWi68xlzL
— PALESTINE ONLINE (@OnlinePalEng) November 26, 2022
In other videos, people stand behind various Israeli reporters and raise Palestinian flags to protest against Israel.
Anti-Israel sentiments
Israeli soccer legend and KAN panel member at the World Cup Eli Ohana also faced anti-Israel sentiments when he was driven by a Qatari policeman.
When Ohana mentioned that he is Israeli, the officer asked him if he was joking, and Ohana then said that he was Portuguese in order to avoid trouble.
The officer told him that if Ohana was Israeli, he would turn the car around and refuse to drive him around.
“אם הייתם מישראל הייתי עוצר ונוסע בחזרה”אלי אוחנה במפגש מתוח עם שוטר קטארי@avico21 pic.twitter.com/kHMjJueKRy
— כאן (@kann) November 25, 2022
Raz Shechnick, Yedioth Ahronoth’s reporter for the World Cup wrote on his Twitter account about his experiences in Qatar regarding the atmosphere for Israeli media and fans.
In a series of tweets, Shechnick described an atmosphere of rejection and hostility from both locals and non-locals.
“We didn’t want to write these words, we are not the story here. but after ten days in Doha, we cannot hide what we are going through. We are feeling hated, surrounded by hostility, not welcomed.”
Raz Shechnick
“We didn’t want to write these words, we are not the story here. but after ten days in Doha, we cannot hide what we are going through. We are feeling hated, surrounded by hostility, not welcomed.”
He also described an incident in which he and his colleague had lied about their country of origin, saying they were Equadorian in order to prevent them from being harassed by fans.
Israeli journalist Dor Hoffman reported on Thursday that a Qatari taxi driver kicked him out of his cab after he discovered he was Israeli, refusing to take his money.
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He later continued to a restaurant on a Qataru beach, where he was escorted out of the premise of the restaurant by security, with the owner of the restaurant demanding that he delete every photo taken in his restaurant. Hoffman said that the owner took his phone and that he felt threatened.
On Saturday, Tunisia fans waved a banner saying “Free Palestine”, despite Qatar and FIFA’s policy of not allowing political protests in matches, a policy that led to the confiscation of rainbow-colored items in support of the LGBTQ+ community, and Iranian anti-regime signs.
