Celtic will face Israelis Hapoel Beer-Sheva in the Champions League playoff round later this month, with the first leg due to take place at Celtic Park.
Hapoel, carrying a Uefa coefficient of 4, eliminated Olympiakos, coefficient: 70, in the last round – a bigger shock than Dundalk’s win over BATE. They put on two backs-to-the-wall performances, drawing the first leg in Greece 0-0 before winning the return 1-0. In the earlier round they shot the Sheriff Tiraspol from Moldova, winning 3-2 in Israel before securing another 0-0 away.
The positives: the Israeli league hasn’t started yet, so Hapoel will be no further into their season’s preparations than Celtic. It also looks like the play on grass.
In recent seasons Celtic have found new and innovative ways to bow out at this stage but we know what’s required and will be strong favourites to progress.
Bring it on.
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NYE BEVANS’ REBEL SOLDIER on 5TH AUGUST 2016 7:00 PM
!!BADA BING!! on 5TH AUGUST 2016 6:50 PM
Phrases you dont hear often-“oh good there’s Lawrie fae Dennistoun oan……”
A wannabe Sun hack,,,,,
__________________________________________________________
I hear about this guy a lot,I don’t listen and wish every
Celtic fan did like wise,have that played the John Brown
sound bite?
………………………
I won’t hear from Laurie fae Dennistoun this year either as I’m determined, as I said last night, to avoid the annoying voice of Keevins for evermore. I can’t stand the guy and his anti- Celtic comments designed purely to get Celtic supporters angry and to phoned up his programme.
Sideshow Negnon
https://youtu.be/aRq1Ksh-32g
Celtic is my club and your club, and we have already had to pay dearly for some fans’ willingness to put their own personal and political beliefs above the best interests of the club & team. We all have our own views on what’s happening in the world, but if we place these political motives above the welfare & interests of the club then we really should consider spending our time doing something elsewhere. IMHO
I usually despair when the blog is hijacked for all manner of emotive topics that divide us rather than unite us, usually politics & religion, but I think this is different. It impacts of our club, our players and our ethos. Despite having an Israeli Arab and an Israeli Jew represent our club, some of us run the risk of blundering into a complex political, sectarian & religious scenario and doing all the wrong things regardless of how well intentioned we might are. In so doing, we run the risk of highly increased personal danger and will likely incur the wrath of Uefa yet again. Regardless of any animus that some of us might feel towards our board or Israel, can I make a plea for us just to act with dignity and respect towards all Israelis when we visit their stadium. Talk to them all, Arab & Jew, and find out how they feel about their situation then compare it to where we live and what we have had to endure.
I indulge myself a wee bit now. If this is to long for you, then scroll on by.
It seems to me that selective & poorly-informed thinking often dominates this topic so I wanted to support my plea with some historical context. Moral equivalencies too often seem to be at work in all the wrong places; a phenomenon that Celtic fans should know plenty about in our SMSM dominated world.
All the leaders of countries (& others) who grandstand about the plight of the people in Gaza could resolve the issue overnight. They choose not to do so.
They don’t want to help because those people remaining in Gaza provide the moral imperative for all their anti-semitic and death to Israel and Israelis vitriol. It suits them to leave the “Arabs” where they are.
Egypt refuses them entry into Egypt, and controls access & egress from Rafah in Gaza, to the same degree as the Israelis do further north.
In 1970, Jordan expelled approximately 30,000 Arabs who had moved out of the war zone during the 1st civil war in 1947-48. It just didn’t want the hassle that might result if they remained.
In 1991, Kuwait expelled 200,000 Arabs who originated from Gaza, Judea & Samaria. When Iraq invaded a further 200,000 fled under a campaign of terror, violence and economic pressure.
When the second Iraq war was over in 2003, over 20,000 similar Arabs fled from that country under a similar campaign of persecution.
Syria refused to accept any of them.
In 2007, Lebanon expelled 31,000 Arab residents of a refugee camp after clashes with the Lebanese army.
Years before that, Lebanon couldn’t stop them coming in which lead to Iran backed Hezbollah basing themselves there. Hezbollah raids into Northern Israel provoked Israeli reprisal raids into Lebanon.
Neither Iraq, Iran nor any other middle eastern/Muslim nation wanted or wants to take them.
The people in question who live in Gaza are merely bargaining chips for use by countries, their leaders, political movements and terrorist organisations to service their own agenda.
In 1948 there were 150,000 Arabs living In Israel. Today there are 1.6 million.
Prior to the establishment of Israel in 1948, there were close to 900,000 Jews living in the Muslim countries in the region. Today there are less than 30,000.
Israel did not seize the ‘West Bank’, because you cannot steal your own land. It’s real name is Judea and Samaria and has been so for 2500 years. Whether you are religious or not, many key parts of the new testament account of the life of Christ take place in Jerusalem, capital of Judea & Samaria or “the West Bank” if you prefer.
In 1948, Jordan joined Egypt, Syria, Iraq & Saudi Arabia in invading Israel, then occupied that part same of Israel before renaming it “the West Bank”. Israel defeated all of these invading countries but accepted the UN declared peace line, thus giving up that particular part of their own country to Jordan. They hoped that these concessions would be recognized as a declaration of their own peaceful intent. By the way, Jordan only properly came into existence itself in 1946. There was no uproar or protest to this at the time or since.
However, in 1967, Jordan joined Egypt, Syria & Iraq in another surprise invasion of Israel, and were once again defeated. In that conflict Israel retook the land that Jordan had occupied after their 1948 invasion.
In other words they took back their ancient lands of Judea and Samaria that had been seized illegally by Jordan in 1948. Basically, Jordanian occupation of this land had made it easier for them to invade Israel.
Further north, Syrian troops had for 19 years used the Golan Heights to shell, mortar and shoot at Israeli villages in the valley below. During the 1967 war Israel repulsed the invading Syrian army and have occupied the Golan Heights since. The same principal applied. If neighbours couldn’t be trusted to safely share a border, Israel made sure they had a safer border.
Neither Gaza nor Lebanon were ever part of Israel, but for decades both have been used as bases from which terrorists could launch attacks against Israel.
Gaza was occupied by Egypt from 1948 to 1967, and by Israel from 1967 until 1994. It was then used as a base for the Second Intifada which in turn led to Israel re-imposing military control there. They removed their military in 2005 and have never sent them back in since.
There are two main groups who vie for control in Gaza, Judea & Samaria, namely Fatah & Hamas. Fatah control the area they call “the West Bank” and Hamas control Gaza. These two groups fought a bitter civil war for control of power in the two areas. Their relationship continues to be fraught with power struggles and bitter personal feuds. Hamas is a Sunni Islamist organisation supported and supplied by Iran.
This week it was discovered that 60 million of the aid sent to Gaza had been syphoned off by Hamas for their own use at the expense of the poor living there. Some of this aid came from the UK.
Periodically, Hamas build up a stock of Iranian supplied rockets and launch them into Israeli civilian areas, always from within heavily populated civilian areas. Predictably, the Israelis return fire to neutralize the Hamas rockets with equally predictable results. Hamas rely on Israeli retaliation, civilian deaths and the fog of war to do the rest.
Arabs in Israel enjoy greater benefits than in any other Arab country.
In Israel, an Israeli Arab enjoys all the same civil rights as Jews. These include all the standards – freedom of expression, equality before the law, property ownership, etc. The difference from Jews is that they do not enjoy full national rights – Israel is a Jewish state and so the flag, anthem and other issues of national identity are primarily Jewish. However, please note that an Arab can both vote and be voted for on all levels of government.
In the PA, on the other hand, they have full national rights. But their civil rights are greatly reduced. You can be arrested for speaking out against certain officials or Islam in certain areas, women rights are very poor, and many more such limitations. Gaza is run by an Islamist Fundamentalist group who use violence to retain power.
The “leaders” of the Arab people living under the control of the Palestine Authority have three times rejected having their own country/state.
In 1937 under the British Peel Commission, in 1947 when the UN proposed two independent state and at the 2000 Camp David Peace Talks. Ironically, the first two offers would have led to a substantially larger independent country for Arabs than now exists.
On all three occasions, Israel supported the two state option.
Israel no longer supports the two state option though. As they now see it, when they remove their troops from areas formerly under their control, like Gaza, they suffer attacks, death and bloodshed. Gaza is still a high security risk, even though the peace accords allow Israel air and sea control. They likewise no longer consider that Judea & Samaria can realistically be part of a separate state whose President recently advised his people to slit the throats of any Jews they find. In the past five weeks 10 Israelis have been stabbed to death, including a ten year old girl who was asleep in her bed during the night.
Perversely, Abbas now pushes for a two state solution, because he knows Israel opposes it, and thus his repeated refusal to ever discuss peace with the Israelis seems to be validated.
In June, Abbas met with EU officials and told them that Israeli rabbis had advised Jews to poison the wells of Arab residents. Completely without foundation, it was just a variation on the centuries old anti-Semitic blood libel that portrayed Jews as people who kill Christian babies and drink their blood.
Abbas, Hamas, Fatah, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Al Shabbab, Isis, Al Queda, ISAP, IS in the Sinai and all other Islamist Terrorist Groups want the extinction of Israel. Not the return of any lands, not a two state solution, not any kind of peace with Israel. They say this repeatedly in public and occasionally act upon those words. They are all also avowedly anti-Semitic.
This week Egypt announced that it had recently conducted an air attack on the Headquarters of the Islamic State in the Sinai group, located in the town of El-Arish. They killed the leader of the group and some 45 of his men.
El-Arish is on the Mediterraen coast just south of Gaza – a mere 2 hour drive from Be’er Sheva.
On Wednesday, a video said to be from the IS Sinai affiliate issued a rare direct threat to Israel, saying it would soon “pay a high price”.
Yes, your read that correctly. Israel is threatened with heavy retaliation after Egypt carry out the raid that killed their leader.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36978774
This is the same group that blew up the Russian airliner full of holidaymakers over the Sinai after it left Eilat.
Israel is the most stable country in the Middle East and well beyond. It is democratic, diverse, industrialized and is literally surrounded by unstable countries that wish to see it eliminated. It has been invaded simultaneously by multiple neighbouring countries on three separate occasions since 1948. It has resisted and survived and still manages to have a functioning parliamentary democracy where all citizens are treated pretty fairly. It has faults & flaws, but it does not preach death and hatred to any religious or ethnic group and doesn’t seek to take over or eliminate neighbouring countries. The security situation is much more nuanced than can be reflected in waving of provocative flags & bawling rhetoric at football matches.
Our team, officials and our fans will soon find themselves in an ethnically diverse city of 200,000 people very close to an infamous world flashpoint – at a time of heightened international and increased local tension.
Let’s all just get through to the group stages and return home safely with lives and reputations intact.
By the way, Hapoel is Hebrew for ‘worker’.
HH
Gordon64
The big event on the horizon, eclipsing our CL fate, is exactly how the club treat the fixture in September. Will they welcome the new club to the SPFL, congratulate them on winning the Championship (at the second attempt) and the Petrofac Cup (at the fourth attempt) or confer on them the ill gotten gains of the scandalous EBT years and confirm that they are indeed ” going for 55″.
If there’s a double page of all the deceased clubs successes I forsee that my golf handicap may finally start to slowly reduce.
I’d prefer to continue to scarf round in around 95 strokes!
TGM The fury felt by our support will be uncontainble. We require a voice to express our collective view that they are not the same club. The board can no longer hide. A statement to that effect is acoming otherwise we are equally morally bankrupt. HH
http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/rodgers-explains-mulgrew-appearance/
Gordon64
Id love to see you proved right….have my doubts though.
Imo this league is bent, simple as.
The PLC were morally bankrupt a long time ago.
They are too cowardly to stand up for the supporters.
They allow us to be cheated…end of.
HH
Blind Melon – No Rain
https://youtu.be/RzQIuP1Tcqo
For anyone travelling to Israel for the return…Be’er Shiva is about 40 miles from Jerusalem, so, it is possible to stay in Jerusalem and travel from there to the game. If you have the time and the money it is certainly worth it. It is a fabulous city with an unparalleled history. The old walled city is truly wonderful, a labyrinth of cobbled alleyways with markets and cafes. So much to see, Dome of the Rock, Al-Aqsa mosque, Via Dolorosa (where pilgrims follow the footsteps of Jesus, some actually doing a penance by carrying a crucifix) and more than 50 churches, of which the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the most well known. The Western (Wailing) Wall is another attraction, though security is very tight around there. The whole city throngs with pilgrims from all over the world. Fridays are for the Muslims, Saturday for the Jews and of course on Sundays the church bells ring out. Go up to the Mount of Olives which looks over and into the old city. From there you will see the Garden of Gethsemane, Mount Zion, Golgotha, the Church of the Ascension and the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene. Gaza is off limits (obvious reasons) but you can visit Bethlehem in the West Bank. It’s only a half hour by car from Jerusalem and it is the site of the Church of the Nativity, Jesus’ supposed birthplace. The town is situated on a hill and from up there you will see the Wall snaking its way around. A depressing sight that makes one wonder why they build walls rather than bridges….Anyway, all this religious stuff from me, an atheist :-) My Catholic upbringing is deeply ingrained…and I’m sorry for the long post…
alanwhickercsc…
Gordon64
I’m on very strong ale, but, unfortunately, even that can’t convince me you’re right about any statement being made so late in the day to challenge the Same Club bullshit, much as it would delight me.
It’ll have to be European nights only for me, as I won’t watch Celtic play, without public protest, in a farce manufactured by Sevco, the SFA and the SPFL, with the almost complete backing of the SMSM.
50 years on from my first game this year anaw! St. Johnstone, Paradise, 6-1, season to end all seasons ahead.
54 titles in 4 years. . Ah mean. . .come on!!
SUNNYJIM
You in the idf ?
Nirvana
Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7gH4ggBLHOw
TGM I agree that our custodians have no desire to rock the boat but soon they will have to make a choice and my future as a Celtic supporter awaits their decision. Time to do the right thing regardless of the consequences. HH
Political posters, I have a question, when we played Leicester, at Paradise, I heard chants of “get the Brits out now” yet in Dublin against Barcelona I never heard this. Why bring politics into the fitbaw?
Die gnädigen Schmidts
Sheila Tak a boo hen/ Shoplifters of the World Unite.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=haVLf0ILkaw
themaestro72 on 5th August 2016 10:32 pm
Political posters, I have a question, when we played Leicester, at Paradise, I heard chants of “get the Brits out now” yet in Dublin against Barcelona I never heard this. Why bring politics into the fitbaw?
——–
And when we play Hearts will “get the Brits out now” be chanted? And at our next home game will one end of the ground shout “get the Brits out now” to the other :O) Will the board call for a boycott of the Hearts game due to the Brits occupation of foreign lands, and will they do the decent thing and call for a boycott of Celtic while we are at, cos you know high school principals
Gordon64
Gordon…im with you bud.
Its a sad day when we cant confront cheating and corruption.
The PLC’s attempt to ignore it…is beyond absurd.
Makes me angry that we have to put up with a board with no principles.
Sad indictment of the reality of football in Scotland.
Sickening.
HH
Ugly Kid Joe – Everything About You
https://youtu.be/byEGjLU2egA
BB if we go into the sevco game acknowledging their 54 league status I won’t be at CP. I will not accept anything other than an unequivocal statement from our custodians that we are playing a new club. HH
I hope we won’t have to suffer any more posts from either side about Israeli v Palestinian politics in the lead up to the game. More of the WEEBOBBYCOLLINS informative stuff on the places of interest to visit please.
THE_HUDDLE on 5TH AUGUST 2016 10:37 PM
I’ve been taken the kids for the last 2 years and don’t want them involved in sectarian/political nonsense.
The worst singing I’ve heard v hearts is the bonfire song.
Gordon64
You won’t be at Celtic park then, you know fine well the club will say feck all, they have the OF bandwagon back, it’s been the plan since they died.
It’s all about the money, truth, honesty, fairness, transparency, right doesn’t get a look in, they want our money, they don’t want to hear us, our money or nothing.
HH
Gordon64,
Sadly to date, the only statement that seems to influence our PLC is their Bank Statement.
G64-hope you are well pal,when Sevco played their first game at Berwick or wherever,a footnote in the Celtic programme,welcoming them to the Scottish League,would have nipped this charade in the bud instantly The longer it has went unchallenged,the bigger the propaganda gets HH
SUNNYJIM
Terrific post & thanks for the history lesson.
It reminds me of an old saying – A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
I hope many take the time to read your post as it’s both enlightening & accurate,
HH
Gordon64
Too late by then, I fear.
Once the bell sounds for round 1 tomorrow, Sevco in the blue trunks in the red and white corner, that’s it for me, as the farce will have begun, so why not call it out now?
Still, I don’t blame anyone for holding out as long as possible before having to chuck it.
SUNNYJIM on 5TH AUGUST 2016 10:07 PM
In view of the fact that IMHO this is the key to the whole issue , I wonder if you would possibly be able to post any justification whatsoever for this statement .
“Israel did not seize the ‘West Bank’, because you cannot steal your own land.”
SunnyJim,
An incredible submission to CQN. Thanks.
MACJAY
Why don’t you leave the politics out. I thought you’d have known better. :-((
Tet and Clogher I fear you may be correct. But I live in misguided hope. HH
SUNNYJIM
A cracking well thought out post, didn’t agree with all of it, but thanks.
HH
Aerosmith – Crazy
https://youtu.be/NMNgbISmF4I
O.K. I’ve bitten, which I regret, but I’m going to ignore political posts on CQN leading up to this game. Everyone has an opinion on the Arab/Israeli conflict but I’d posit (JJ) that the build up to Celtic v Hapoel Beer Sheeva is not the time to air them. Let’s welcome the Israeli team in the way that we hope to be welcomed by them. Middle East politics have absolutely nothing to do with CQN.
Last comment from me, hopefully, on the subject.
SunnyJim
Excellent and thanks
Bada Agree big mhan. In the maelstrom, euphoria and ice cream and jelly of their demise we failed to see the backroom deals that were taking place to allow the new clubs ilegal resurrection.
Two comments on Sinclair signing.
First is this marks a volte face on the transfer policy. Not bought a guy at his peak for years.
Second is what a laugh it will be to see Sinclair, Dembele and Roberts streak past ‘Over The’ Hill, Kiernan and Co for fun. Fish in a barrel.
I Wanna Be Sedated – The Ramones
https://youtu.be/ZLlLtSG7xe4
Basketball Jones
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JIbp5C-5WXM