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Bronze medalist windsurfer Shahar Zubari and Israel's only medal recipient at the Beijing Olympics has stirred up a storm of controversy after referring to the Chinese as "scum" in an interview with 7 Yamim, a weekend supplement of the mass-market daily Yedioth Ahronoth. The comments made by the 20 year old athlete led the Chinese embassy in Israel to cancel the party it had planned in honour of Israeli athletes who had participated in the Beijing Games, and sent Israel's Culture, Science and Sport Minister Raleb Majadele scrambling to send an apology to the Chinese ambassador:
"I would like to condemn the irresponsible remarks made by Shahar Zubari," Majadele wrote.Photo of Shahar Zubari from Wikipedia"I would also like to emphasize that they do not reflect the views of the Israeli people on the Chinese nation," he expressed to the ambassador.
Majadele wrote that during his stay in Beijing during the event, he discovered "a cultured, polite people who are pleasant and friendly."
"I hope that the regrettable remarks made by Shahar Zubari do not harm the fruitful relations between our countries," he added.
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This guy is gay, definitely a son of bitch.
That's a typical response from people living off handouts from the US!
Right, because the US told him to say that. Logical conclusion.
Some contextual information would be nice. It's an interesting story when an individual slanders an entire nation, but not because of the word they used.
I mean, it makes sense, right? Since we have been bunch of thugs and goons for the last 50 years, how can we not be scums?
of course the use of slurs is not acceptable from a public figure.
but:
why does everybody in the world has to like china and the chinese?
why does it have to be such a hoo-haa when someone says he does not like chinese/china?
I think he was talking about the thin layer of green slime on the surface of the ocean...
annoying as it is, this is non-news to bait us into calling him a little spoiled bitch :)
Maybe he was calling his Chinese Strumpet but the line got connected elsewhere. These things happen you know.
English is spoken in many different ways
He was probably really upset at seeing a nation that collectively punishes an ethnic group striving for its own independent state with crude and cruel police-state tactics, deadly violent force, unwanted settlement by the dominant nationality in the territories of that abused ethnic group and and and... um... oh, hell...
Free Palestine?
I would like to see the full interview, should be fun.
I have met many Israelis outside of Israel and all have been wonderful and friendly people. A lot of those I met were young men and women who just completed Israel's compulsory military service and were eager to explore the world for the first time. Mr. Zubari is the exception, not the rule.
We all have those in our own countries that would rather keep to themselves and not want go outside their comfort zone. A small minded person usually does not represent a people - it is unfortunate that Mr. Zubari forgot that he was representing Israel.
Being Chinese, I must admit that we do talk funny - but hey, so do a lot of other people :P
An ignorant Jude. What do you expect! One lousy bronze versus 51 gold. Sour grapes of course!
More Shanghai news, please. Shanghaiist shouldn't just be a rewrite of a "Google New: China" search.
probably just an under age young punk who slip the word out wrong, unless he was smoking something...
eh , I don't think he calls anyone scum
This is all he said :
"Their traditions are bizarre and even their speech is weird," he said, adding, "I also don't like their food."
He later apologized.
An Israeli Cabinet minister called the Chinese ambassador Wednesday to apologize after Israel's only Beijing Olympics medalist used a curse to describe the Chinese in a newspaper interview
Majadle, who attended the Olympics, told the ambassador that they "do not reflect the views of the Israeli people toward the Chinese people," and praised the Chinese for their hospitality during the Games, according to a statement from Majadle's office.
Zubari published an apology in Yediot on Tuesday. "I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart" for the comments, he said, explaining they were made "without thinking."
Please do not twist people words.
I am Chinese , I was angry at first, but then after hearing what the Israeli ambassador and minister said, I am calm now. I agree we should not say the whole Israel is like that, he is an apple or an orange in a basket full of fruits, one is bad does not mean the whole basket is bad.
Peace !
Shalom right back at yah ;)
"I have met many Israelis outside of Israel and all have been wonderful and friendly people."
Me too. I wouldn't say that they were wonderful people, most of the time in my experience they acted badly, essentially quite a rude and obnoxious bunch.
"I am Chinese , I was angry at first, but then after hearing what the Israeli ambassador and minister said, I am calm now."
This really sums up the Chinese overly-sensitive thinking in regard to ANY negative comments made about China and/or the Chinese people.
Seriously, why should you care so much about some little punk calling you whatever? It's stupid. If you react it's just a telling sign of your lack of maturity.
It only proves that physical development doesn't suggest mental maturity.
@Pirx
It's not about china/Chinese. Whoever stereotypes a nation/ethnic annoys me.
Might be,we've should tell the chinese people that"you don't mess with the Zubari". hoho
An overreaction, just like the Jack Cafferty thing. People have opinions. Not everyone shares those opinions. To set your neighbors barn alight because he calls you "scum" is just silly.
Forgive him lah! He got a lot of criticism in Israel for coming up with only Bronze when he beat out the Israeli Gold Medallist favorite from Athens during the pre-Beijing Olympic trials. He might be sent to face Hezbollah in the not too distant future! Be nice to him. Inshallah!;)
This story really disgusted me. Athletes are also diplomats and represent their country; they should think on this before they open their mouths and say such stupid, hurtful things.
I know many Israelis who are equally dismayed at this man's thoughtlessness and lack of gratitude.
I hope this doesn't affect China and Israels relations too much. We must be careful not to judge a nation by its most stupid citizen.
Anyway I have said what I wanted to say,
Xie xie,
Trip :o)
Well, I don’t think many Chinese will be disturbed by his comments, not me at least. I mean who cares. But to condemn a whole nation like that? It’s obvious that Israel’s sport division needs a special education in etiquette. How barbaric to make comments like that!
I don't think it's entirely unfair to make a judgment about a group based on one's interactions with them. Realistically, it's human nature to generalize about groups based on one's personal experiences, but that doesn't mean it's logical or fair -- it's just based on your limited frame of reference.
Generally (based on my experiences), I find Chinese highly willing to generalize about different groups and pass judgment on people based on appearances alone. For example, it's remarkable how much more nicely Chinese treat you when you dress formally rather than casually, even though nothing intrinsic has changed. That said, I am curious what Zubari's experience in China was like and how it caused him to pass such a harsh judgment against the people there. As we all know, one bad experience can completely tarnish a whole category.
Bucky, he obviously is a bumpkin who has never been overseas a lot, at least the exotic countries. Judging by his looks, he is probably a Shephardic Jew. He goes to a country that is very different from Eilat, where he comes from, and he blurted out his ignorance. Being an athlete in the Olympics, I am sure the Chinese authorities and the like would have gone out of their way to be nice to him. Of course, Israeli officials might be afraid this could hurt Chinese purchase of Israeli weapons, since there is now even less need to do so, as Chinese weaponry manufacture becomes more sophisticated.
On another interesting note, young Israeli backpackers in Nepal are the most disliked by the locals for their lack of cultural sensitivity, stinginess and rudeness. Many young Israelis head to Nepal and India, to load up on hashish, get drunk, and de-stress from military duty in the Palestinian territories.
he obviously is a bumpkin who has never been overseas a lot, at least the exotic countries
he is probably a Shephardic Jew
I am sure the Chinese authorities and the like would have gone out of their way to be nice to him
Very presumptuous indeed! I would assume that at least one of your three observations is wrong.
Hey Bucky, maybe the Sephardic part, as Askhenazi Jews sometimes change their names to the hebrew form, but he does look Sephardic. And I have been to Israel and some Middle Eastern countries like Jordan. These folks hate Chinese food, they can't stand fish being steamed, for example. And yes, they love their eggplant dishes like Hummus like crazy. The guy obviously took out his frustration on the Chinese living in surroundings that is so alien to him. Most Jewish people of European background are normally more cosmpolitan than the Sephardics, who came from Morrocco, Yemen and elsewhere in the ME. If you are a foreigner living in China, you shud know the Chinese authorities treat foreigners much better than the locals.
And Bucky, I forgot to mention Qingdao is famous for its seafood and shellfish. Israelis dun touch shellfish. And there weren't many Arab or Muslim countries in the sailing events too, so maybe the Chinese didn't set up ME food or Muslim food in Qingdao because of low demand, unlike at the Olympics Village in Beijing. Jews and Muslims have similar food habits, no pork etc. And no steamed fish. Really drive them crazy.
Very imaginative BBC1! How do you know he hasn't traveled? If he has spent so much time doing water sports, what makes you think he doesn't like sea food? This is just daft! Likewise, why can't you seem to imagine that he may have actually had a bad experience? Not in China, where everything and everyone is perfect! Please!
As long as you seem to wish to lecture partially on well-known facts while filling in the blanks with your biases and presumptions, can't you imagine that he had something stolen, that someone was rude to him, someone was smoking in the elevator, spitting public, letting their child shit in the street, talking too loudly, really passive-aggressive (as they can be), or that someone with horrible teeth or halitosis was overly excited to talk to him. Not that any of this is enough to merit such a strong condemnation. Still, there are all sorts of equally probable hypotheticals that you can insert into your fantasy, so please do try to stretch your imagination! Come on! Reach for it!
20 year old idiot with a bad attitude. This guy has no future.
One more thing: the psychotic nationalism on display during the Olympics was a big turn-off to a lot of foreigners and degraded China.
@ Buck
One of the images here in the US when the Olympics started was a shit youth rolling up his sleeves and flexing his arm for the camera. I'm imaging most Americans would have interpreted that as one young man's attempt at bravado...
Bad, bad China.