Tuesday May 10, 2005

Column:

Rome had their gladiators. England had their fox hunts. And last week, Israelis had their basketball. It was Maccabi Tel Aviv versus the other guys, Spain's Tau Victoria, for the European World Cup. And Maccabi won.

But you know what, it wouldn't have made a difference. Israel was in the finals for the Eurocup. The win was the icing on the cake, the diversion from the raw realities of everyday life.

Israel is a news junkie country. Israelis are glued to their TV and radio news stations day after day, hour by hour. This week, they changed the dial. They stayed glued, but to sports stations.

That's a big deal.

Every now and then, Israelis give up on their addiction for news and turn their attentions in another direction, to sports. It happened last year and again this year. Maccabi Tel Aviv, the greatest team in Israeli basketball history has won the European Cup two years in a row. Back to back championships will put anyone on the athletic map and Israelis know that.

Some might call it a silly little game. Extremely tall men bouncing and throwing a ball into a hoop. Trying to throw your ball in more often than your opponent. But the Eurocup is more than that.

It might be a game, but for Israelis it was also a distraction, a relief from the tensions and problems of everyday life. Not just the terror. The redeployment. The internal tensions and debates. The unanswered question: will giving land to the Palestinians bring peace. This year's Eurocup was the type of therapeutic digression needed by a society so tightly wound that political debates sometimes actually result in fisticuffs.

And then there's something else, something far more important, something too often overlooked in the euphoria of victory. Winning the Eurocup gives Israel credibility in the world and specifically in Europe. In their own eyes Israelis are now equals on the field of sports and in the political arena. But only in their own eyes.

When Israelis won their first Eurocup in 1977 the actually used the expression "we are on the map." Israel, they thought, had finally become "a somebody." They won again in 1981 and again in 2001. More power, more prestige to them. Maccabi Tel Aviv turned Israelis into real contenders in European basketball. The wins of 2004 and 2005 reinforce that status.

But here's the problem. Just because you are successful at sports, even ecstatically victorious, it does not mean you are accepted off the field. The sports arena plays by one set of rules, the corridors of power and politics play by another. Acceptance does not replace tolerance. Congratulations do not beget respect.

I hope that Israel continues to win many more Eurocups. It's good for the national soul. But that's all it is. Israelis, don't let yourselves be fooled.

Go team go.