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| | Maccabiah: Dance group canceled performance in karate event |
| | | | Doa Khatib: Arab swimmer from Nazareth who won gold Photo: Reuven Schwartz
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| | | | Asala Shahada: Arab swimmer who also won Maccabiah gold Photo: Meir Partush
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Arab group cancels Maccabiah show
Dance group cancels performance in karate opening ceremony; manager says it happened because event is Zionist; Nazareth city officials deny claim
By Moshe Sidi and Goel Beno
TEL AVIV - Dance group "El Amal," organized by Nazareth's community center, canceled its performance in the opening of the Maccabiah karate tournament because the municipality believed it was a Zionist, right-wing event, the group's manager, Widad Atalla, said.
The Nazareth municipality denied the claims and said that the group was not given permission because the manager did not file a proper request.
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Avitan and Becher said they reviewed the agreement about a month ago, and were even invited to a rehearsal of the show. Six days before the event, which was scheduled for July 13, the group canceled.
Avitan said Atalla told him she was sorry, but that she was pressured by the Nazareth municipality not to perform.
"I told her that it was last minute and that we had already advertised the group's performance," he said.
'No nationalist motive'
Avitan said he is shocked by the cancellation, because 35 percent of the association's athletes are Arab. Moreover, seven Arab athletes are on the Israeli team, and they all participated in the Maccabiah.
"The band and the municipality receive money from the government," Avitan said, "but they cancel an event because it is Zionist?"
According to Atalla, a meeting took place with Nazareth mayor Rames Jarrisi and Deputy Mayor Ali Salam at which the mayor told her that they would not send her to the Maccabiah.
The head of the mayor's office and municipality spokesman Safwan Fahum said Atalla's claims are untrue.
"The cancellation had no nationalist motive," he said. "We only found out a day or two before the event that the group would perform, and that it had not made sure to get proper permission."
Fahum said that in order for a group to go to an event like that, insurance and transportation had to be provided, so it was important to get official permission on time.
"The mayor never said this was a Zionist event," Fahum said. "If, God forbid, a disaster occurred in the Maccabiah, as has happened before, we would be blamed. That is why there must be rules."
Mahmoud Nassar, director of Nazareth youth culture and sports, who also participated in the municipality meeting, sided with Fahum.
"I could not approve the performance at the last minute, because we had already made a commitment to perform in a festival in Jordan two days before the Maccabiah opening," Nassar said. "I could not pressure the girls to perform so frequently."
'It is all politics'
In response, Atalla said the entire flap is political.
"I am an honest and direct person, and I do not understand politics," she said. "I am telling the truth. The mayor said that it was an entirely right-wing event, and we Arabs had no place there."
It may not have been only the municipality's pressure, however.
Atalla herself said she feels the Maccabiah has nothing to do with Arabs, even though Arab athletes, like swimmers Asala Shahada and Doa Khatib, not only participated but also won Maccabiah gold.
"Listen to what they said in the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah," said Atalla. "It is a Jewish endeavor; it is not connected to Arabs. I know that Arabs are there, but it is what the Maccabiah symbolizes."
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