For decades we have seen Israeli athletes unable to compete in certain countries because of their nationality. We are seeing the same thing here
May 21, 2019 15:19
On Tuesday, Arsenal made a very tough decision.
Next week, the team is due to play in the Europa League final, against Chelsea. The game will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan is one of the club’s midfielders. He has significant experience in the Europa League: just two years ago, he scored for Manchester United in their 2-0 victory over Ajax in the final.
And yet he will not be going to Baku with the Arsenal squad.
I have seen a number of Jewish people, many of whom are not Arsenal fans, express their concern about this, and I know why. This touches on a very sensitive subject for us – the idea of being persona non grata.
Because as well as being an Arsenal player, Henrikh Mkhitaryan is Armenia’s most famous footballer and captain of Armenia’s national team. And Armenia and Azerbaijan are at war in everything but name.
The two countries have no diplomatic relationship with each other due to major territorial disputes over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Armenian citizens are forbidden to enter Azerbaijan.
In a statement today, Arsenal announced that it was “very disappointed to announce that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be travelling with the squad for our Uefa Europa League final against Chelsea.”
The club said that “after discussing this with Micki and his family we have collectively agreed he will not be in our travelling party.
“We have written to Uefa expressing our deep concerns about this situation.
“We’re also very sad that a player will miss out on a major European final in circumstances such as this, as it is something that comes along very rarely in a footballer’s career.”
"We're very disappointed to announce that @HenrikhMkh will not be travelling with the squad for our #UELfinal against Chelsea."
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) May 21, 2019
Full statement 👇
For its part, Uefa claims it received assurances from “the highest authorities” in Azerbaijan regarding Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s safety, were he to have travelled to Baku.
But it seems clear that, as far as both Arsenal and the footballer and his family were concerned, those assurances were not good enough.
Of course this should resonate with Jews: time and time again, we have seen Israeli athletes barred from international competitions.
We have seen competitors from countries which do not recognise Israel refusing to take part in events which would mean coming into contact with Israelis.
Occasionally, we have seen international sporting organisations respond strongly to this.
Last year, for example, the International Federation of Chess (FIDE) relocated a tournament from Saudi Arabia after the country refused to allow Israeli players to compete.
But such examples are rare; in other similar cases, organisers have shrugged and attempted to ignore the issue. The very fact that Israel plays in Uefa competitions is because for decades a great number of countries in the Asian confederation refused to play against the Jewish State.
Who knows what would happen in the unlikely event that Israel qualifies for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar? The Gulf state has reportedly said that the Israeli team would be allowed to participate, but one wonders whether, if it came down to it, the notoriously anti-Israel country would really agree.
Uefa should relocate the Europa League final. We have an instance of a team feeling unable to field a player on the basis of his nationality, in one of the world’s major sporting competitions. This should be unacceptable.
The fact that it clearly isn’t a deal breaker for Europe’s footballing body should concern us all.
