One thing about racism is that it is one of America’s most famous exports besides basketball. But when you combine the two internationally, you get ugly statements from political figures. In Israel the mayor of the city of Holon, Motti Sasson, was attending a sports conference at an Israeli college and he expressed his dissatisfaction about current Israeli Super League basketball rules that allow up to four foreign players on each team. The majority of these players are black Americans and the mayor stated the following to Israel’s largest newspaper Ynet, “I don’t want to see foreigners; I want to see Israeli sportsmen. If you want to watch niggers, you have the NBA for that.”
Israel has a long history of racism against people of color from the Palestinians to the Ethiopian Jews who were resettled in Israel as part of Operation Moses (1984) and Operation Solomon (1991). The comments of this mayor of a major city located 40 miles from the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv do little to help in any racial discussion. When he was asked again about his comments he stated, “The choice of the word ‘niggers’ was inappropriate and I apologize. I, of course, meant foreign players.”
