Voice of the Jewish News: ‘Y’ is hate slur STILL sung?
This week's Jewish News editorial on Tottenham launching a consultation with fans over the club being synonymous with an antisemitic slur.
Tottenham Hotspur is to ask supporters if it should ban the racial hate slur ‘Yid’ before the start of the new season.
The term is perversely worn as a badge of honour by Spurs’ self-styled, almost entirely non-Jewish ‘Yid Army’, while the overwhelming majority of Jewish football supporters – and indeed this newspaper – see the Y-word for what it is and always has been – a deeply offensive term of abuse.
Jewish Tottenham fans are broadly to blame for its continued use. Their hearts rule their heads when they nonchalantly indulge a vicious slur against them out of loyalty to a sports team. When Jews hear the word ‘Yid’, or see it daubed on desecrated synagogues and gravestones, they are unequivocally responsible for standing proudly against it, not proudly for it.
Racism will never be eradicated. But treating this foul word with the contempt it deserves is a small step in the right direction.
Jewish News’ message to Jewish Spurs fans invited to contribute to this summer’s Y-word consultation is simple: don’t let blind loyalty to your team blind you to the obvious and ugly truth.
Do the decent thing. Get rid of Yid.
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