Arcadi Gaydamak

Beitar Jerusalem fans cheer and wave a 'La Familia' flag during a match between Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem on April 23, 2022. (Oren ben Hakoon/Flash90)

July 8, 2022, 8:36 am

Paying the penalties: The stranger-than-fiction rise and fall of Beitar Jerusalem

The fate of the sharply controversial soccer team hangs in the balance once again after yet another owner becomes embroiled in scandal and legal imbroglios

By Amy Spiro

Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich applauds his players after they defeated Arsenal 6-0, in an English Premier League soccer match at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, on March 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

May 30, 2018, 5:50 am

Abramovich is latest of more than 30 Russian Jewish tycoons to move to Israel

Many are drawn by tax breaks for new immigrants to Israel; others seek the advantages of an Israeli passport, such as visa-free entry to the European Union

By Aron Heller

A branch of Bank Leumi in central Jerusalem (Maxim Dinshtein/Flash90)

September 12, 2016, 5:25 pm

Why is Bank Leumi telling foreigners to close their accounts? And what’s the link to Israel’s malignant black economy?

As the US cracks down on tax evasion, Israel’s flourishing decades of money laundering for Diaspora Jews are being exposed. It’s part of a financial malaise that runs deep, and that harms all law-abiding Israelis

By Simona Weinglass

Arkady Gaydamak visiting a Beitar Jerusalem training session in September 2008 (photo credit: Anna Kaplan/ Flash90)

July 30, 2015, 10:21 pm

Tycoon Gaydamak suing Russian chief rabbi, diamond magnate

Beitar Jerusalem owner says Berel Lazar, Lev Leviev reneged on contract; demands NIS 750 million in damages

By TOI staff

November 27, 2013, 7:07 pm

France looking to extradite Israeli tycoon Gaydamak from Switzerland

Businessman, who owned Israeli club Beitar Jerusalem, tries to claim diplomatic immunity after arrest on suspicion of breach of trust

By AP

From the WebNovember 25, 2013, 11:20 pm

Businessman Arkady Gaydamak arrested in Zurich

Russian-Israeli tycoon busted in Switzerland over sale of Kazakh phosphate factory, Ynet reports, quoting Luxembourg news site Paperjam

A hooded Beitar Jerusalem fan seen outside the Teddy stadium in Jerusalem ahead of a match on Sunday, February 10 (photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90)

February 13, 2013, 2:36 am

Police arrest 7 for Beitar clubhouse torching

Suspects belong to a group of hardcore fans of the Jerusalem soccer club known as La Familia

By Ron Friedman

Beitar fans at Teddy Stadium Sunday night. (Screenshot: Sport 1)

February 10, 2013, 8:54 pm

70 fans kicked out but no major incidents at Beitar match

Amid tight security, and to lots of booing, Chechen Muslim Gabriel Kadiev takes the field for Jerusalem team stained by racism

By Gabe Fisher and Adiv Sterman

Fans of Beitar Jerusalem protest the decision to sign two Chechen Muslim players during training session in Jerusalem, on February 1, 2013. (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

February 10, 2013, 9:15 am

Amid tight security, Beitar to play Arab team in Jerusalem

‘We need to take this criminal activity, even terrorism, against the team seriously,’ says Jerusalem mayor following clubhouse torching

By Gabe Fisher and TOI staff

Beitar Jerusalem fans at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem in 2013. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

February 7, 2013, 10:03 pm

Beitar fans charged over racist chants as cops vow to crack down

Police announce operation to penetrate an extremist cell within the Jerusalem soccer club’s faithful

By Philip Podolsky

Fans of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team hold up a sign reading 'Beitar forever pure,' during a match on January 26, 2013. (Flash90)

February 6, 2013, 6:19 pm

AG pledges to eradicate racism from sports fields

Two Chechen soccer players at the center of recent Beitar Jerusalem controversy to be treated to visits from moms

By Adiv Sterman

Beitar Jerusalem head coach Eli Cohen, center, flanked by Gabriel Kadiev, left, and Zaur Sadayev at a press conference, January 31, 2013. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

January 31, 2013, 1:46 am

Beitar Jerusalem signs first Muslim players

In wake of racist display by some fans, Mayor Nir Barkat says signing is ‘an ethical statement that goes out from Jerusalem to the world’

By Ron Friedman

January 30, 2013, 3:09 am

Buoyed by score, daunted by fines, Beitar faithful play nice

Jerusalem team’s soccer fans defy the grim expectations and refrain from racist rhetoric as the players club Maccabi Umm al-Fahm on the pitch

By Mitch Ginsburg

January 29, 2013, 6:11 am

Beitar’s racism has a long, inglorious history

Viciously protesting the planned signing of Muslim players was only the latest in a tradition of hate-filled displays by Jerusalem soccer fans

By Aaron Kalman

January 27, 2013, 4:22 am

Knesset speaker Rivlin slams Beitar soccer fans’ anti-Muslim racism

Three Beitar supporters arrested after calling out slogans against two Chechens slated to become team’s first Muslim players

By Joshua Davidovich