FRENCH NEWS AGENCY'S ANTI-ISRAEL BIAS

The open animosity toward Israel in this uncredited Agence France Presse soccer “feature” story is quite astounding: ‘No Arabs, No Goals’: Arabs save Israel despite racist jibes. (LGF)

JERUSALEM (AFP) - “No Arabs, No Goals,” crowed MP Ahmed Tibi as a second Arab-Israeli footballer smashed the ball into the back of the net, saving Israel’s World Cup prospects for a second time in less than a week.

Aping the slogan beloved of Jewish extremists, “No Arabs, no terror attacks”, midfielders Abbas Suan and Walid Badier are heros in Israel’s heavily discriminated Arab community after their prowess kept football burning bright.

Suan and Badier scored match-tying goals in back-to-back qualifier matches against Ireland and France in Tel Aviv on Saturday and Wednesday, keeping Israeli hopes alive for the 2006 German World Cup.

Overjoyed with Badier’s feats in Wednesday night’s crucial match against France, Tibi telephoned a journalist from Israel’s right-wing Maariv newspaper.

The rag thought Tibi’s slogan pertinent enough to reprint as its headline.

“All week he had been dreaming about how Abbas Suan and Walid Badier would save the homeland,” sneared a Maariv editorialist.

Israeli by nationality, Palestinians at heart, Israel’s 1.2 million Arabs, descendants of those who remained on their land after the Jewish state was created in 1948, are treated as second class citizens.

“My expression, ‘No Arabs, No Goals’, is my answer to the racists in Israel. These two goals have had more impact than all the political pontificating,” Tibi told AFP.