Rugby star"s anti-Semitic tweet prompts call for greater understanding

A WALES and Cardiff Blues rugby player’s use of the term “Jew goal” on Twitter has prompted calls for greater awareness of potentially offensive terms on social media.

Blues flanker Josh Navidi wrote to his more than 4,700 followers on the social networking site Twitter on Tuesday night: “Even Man U can’t finish a Jew goal.”

Navidi later removed the tweet.

The Welsh international made the remark during Manchester United’s Champions League defeat of Bayer Leverkusen. The remark is thought to have referred to a missed goal during the match.

The term originates from online football gaming communities. One definition is that a player squares the ball to a teammate when in a two-on-one with the goalkeeper.

A spokesman for Show Racism the Red Card said: “The term, as recently explained by Anshel Pfeffer of the Israeli News, is used to describe a goal whereby one player does all the running and tackling then passes to a team mate who scores the goal with no effort,” the spokesman said.

“The negative connotations of the term suggest that to be the “Jew” is to do no work but to accept the glory. This description defines the term as being distinctly negative.”

The charity said those who regularly used the term in the video game community have no understanding of its negative connotations and offensive nature.

Professor Dan Cohn-Sherbok, an honorary professor at Aberystwyth University and ordained Rabbi, added: “I’m sure that the player didn’t mean to be anti-Semitic, and one also doesn’t want to be over-alarmist, but the phrase does carry negative meaning.

“It conveys the impression that Jews are either cheats or a dishonest person that makes things easy for themselves.”

Article source: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1778843/Depleted-Ireland-in-rugby-rout-of-Canada

Rugby star"s anti-Semitic tweet prompts call for greater understanding