Israeli social media went crazy yesterday after the announcement of a deal between Beitar Jerusalem owner Moshe Hogeg and Abu Dhabi investor Emirati Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Nahyan. According to a statement by the Beitar soccer club management, Nahyan would invest $92 million over the next 10 years in exchange for 50% ownership — a first in Israel’s sports history.
Israeli soccer is not accustomed to such huge sums of money being poured in, but the networks were buzzing for other reasons. Not only was the deal a most tangible and direct result of the normalization agreement between the two countries, but it also confronted Beitar fans with a new, almost unimaginable reality.
