Israel's First Arab Soccer Superstar Tells His Story
Rifaat Turk, Israel’s first Arab soccer superstar, who paved the way for dozens of Arab players, tells Shlomi Eldar about the racism and challenges he has faced.
“I don’t believe that there is a single player on the football field anywhere in the world who suffered from racism like I did,” said Rifaat “Jimmy” Turk last week when we met at the Babai restaurant overlooking the beach in his hometown of Jaffa.
It was right here on this beach that Turk began the career that made him a top-ranked soccer star. Turk no longer remembers the person’s name, but a fan of HaPo’el Tel Aviv saw him dribbling a ball along the beach with his friends and invited him for a training session with the team. He kept inviting him until Turk agreed to go, and the rest is history.
Rifaat Turk has became a symbol of the HaPo’el Tel Aviv soccer team and a trailblazer for all the other Arab players in Israel, who now play for just about every team in the country’s top divisions, often becoming stars themselves. Today, there is hardly a team in the country’s top divisions that doesn’t have at least two or three Arab players. The one team that still keeps Arab players off the field for ideological reasons is Beitar Jerusalem. That seemed to be a good starting point for our conversation.
We chose a table overlooking the sea, and even before the waiter arrived, Turk launched into a heart-rending monologue. It seemed like the question was already hovering above us, even though I hadn’t asked it yet. It was as if I'd struck a nerve without saying anything.
