Shaul Adar talks to Mark Glanville about Beitar Jerusalem FC’s journey from the sports movement of a liberal national Zionism party to an overt right-wing symbol of hardcore nationalism.

The Israeli Premier League rarely makes global headlines in the way its counterparts do.

That changed in 2020 with the news that a UAE royal was to take a 50% stake in Beitar Jerusalem FC, the only team in a league where all ethnicities co-exist never to have signed an Arab player, proclaimed by its own fans as ‘the most racist club in the country’. In On the Border: The Rise and Decline of the Most Political Club in the World football journalist Shaul Adar tells the fascinating journey from sports movement of a liberal national Zionism party to an overt symbol of right-wing views, Mizrahi identity and eventually hardcore nationalism. In conversation with The Goldberg Variations author Mark Glanville.

Buy a copy of On the Border: The Story of Beitar Jerusalem by Shaul Adar.

This event will last approximately 1 hour, without an interval. 

About the speakers:

Shaul Adar is an acclaimed Israeli journalist and an expert on Israeli football. He writes for The Blizzard, When Saturday Comes and 11 Freunde among other football publications. On the Border is his third book.

After studying Classics at Oxford University and singing at the RNCM, Mark Glanville performed as Bass soloist for Opera North, Scottish Opera, Lisbon Opera, Israeli Opera, Opera Zuid, and in concert with Yehudi Menuhin, Daniele Gatti, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, David Willcocks. His Yiddish Winterreise was performed at Kennedy Center, Leeds Lieder Festival, Purcell Room and recorded for Naxos. His memoir, The Goldberg Variations, was shortlisted for the Wingate Prize for Jewish Literature.