Abstract
This study examines how Hebrew-language sports media framed Jewish and Arab football clubs in Israel during the 2023–2024 football season, amid the ongoing Israel–Hamas war. Focusing on the ultra-nationalist Jewish club Beitar Jerusalem, the established Arab club Bnei Sakhnin, and the emerging Arab club Bnei Reineh, the analysis reveals distinct patterns shaped by framing theory (Entman, 1993) and peace journalism (Galtung, 2002). Despite comparable visibility, Arab clubs—particularly Bnei Sakhnin—were frequently portrayed with suspicion, disloyalty, or decontextualized neutrality, reflecting selective inclusion and exclusion. In contrast, Beitar was depicted as a patriotic symbol, reinforcing nationalist narratives consistent with war journalism. Peace-oriented frames were rare, decontextualized, and easily overshadowed by dominant ethnonational discourses. Even ostensibly neutral reporting stripped Arab players of sociopolitical context, reinforcing their symbolic marginality. The findings highlight the role of “soft” media in shaping public discourse and national identity, emphasizing that sports journalism is not immune to wartime ideological pressures. Rather than fostering inclusion, it often amplifies existing hierarchies—missing opportunities to support dialogue, empathy, and coexistence in a deeply divided society.
Keywords
Introduction
In times of armed conflict, media coverage often reflects and reinforces national boundaries, identities, and anxieties. While this phenomenon has been widely studied in relation to news and political reporting, less attention has been paid to how it manifests in “soft” media—such as sports journalism—which is often assumed to be apolitical or escapist. This paper challenges that assumption by analyzing Hebrew-language sports media coverage of Jewish and Arab football clubs within Israel during the ongoing Israel–Hamas war, specifically during the 2023–2024 football season. It asks how Israeli sports media navigated questions of national identity, belonging, and exclusion through the symbolic arena of football, focusing on the cases of three football clubs with distinct identities: Beitar Jerusalem, a Jewish club with a history of ultra-nationalist and anti-Arab fan behavior; Bnei Sakhnin, an established Arab club symbolizing the tension between Israeli and Palestinian identity; and Bnei Reineh, a newer Arab club with less prominence due to its recent entry into the top league.
The primary objectives of this study are to examine how sports media framing reflects or challenges ethnonational hierarchies during wartime; assess whether coverage aligns with peace journalism principles that promote reconciliation and inclusion, or with war journalism tendencies that exacerbate division and suspicion; and to explore the role of sports media as a cultural battleground for national identity and belonging.
Theoretically, this study draws on the concepts of framing (Entman, 1993; Goffman, 1974) and peace journalism (Galtung, 2002; Lynch & McGoldrick, 2022) to understand the role of sports media in conflict-ridden contexts. Framing theory helps illuminate how media selectively emphasize certain narratives, attributes, and moral evaluations, shaping public perceptions of events and actors. Peace journalism, meanwhile, offers a normative model that contrasts with war journalism’s tendency to dichotomize, decontextualize, and escalate tensions. Applying these frameworks to sports coverage reveals how deeply political and symbolic soft media can be—particularly when it comes to representing marginalized groups in a divided society.
The paper argues that, during the Israel–Hamas war, sports media in Israel did not serve as a neutral platform for fostering national cohesion but instead perpetuated ethnonational hierarchies through selective framing. While Beitar Jerusalem was framed as a unifying patriotic emblem, Arab clubs like Bnei Sakhnin were routinely associated with suspicion, disloyalty, or exceptionalism. Even when Arab players were covered positively, the framing often stripped them of sociopolitical context, undermining any integrative potential. Coverage of anthem protests, participation in the Palestinian national team, and expressions of political identity was framed through a lens of controversy, further entrenching Jewish–Arab divisions.
This study contributes to the growing field of sport and conflict studies by highlighting the ideological function of sports journalism in conflict zones. It demonstrates how sport becomes a cultural battleground where national myths are reinforced or contested. It also expands the scope of peace journalism scholarship by extending it to a domain often overlooked in peace and conflict media studies.
The paper is structured as follows: The first section outlines the theoretical framework, focusing on framing and peace journalism. The second section provides background on Israeli football, with attention to its ethnonational dimensions. The third section presents research questions, methodology, combining quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The fourth section details findings across the three clubs, analyzing differences in volume, tone, and thematic emphasis. The fifth section discusses the findings in relation to the theoretical framework, and the sixth section concludes with hypothesis verification, limitations, and directions for future research.
The Role of Sport Media in Divided Societies During Wartime: A Framework for Studying Peace Journalism in Israel
Peace Journalism and the Mediatization of War
The past decade has witnessed a marked increase in violent conflicts and wars. According to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP), the number of state-based armed conflicts has steadily risen, with particularly intense outbreaks in the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe. This surge - including intra-state conflicts in divided societies with complex domestic media landscapes - underscores the need to examine how media shape public perceptions during wartime (Davies et al., 2025; Raleigh et al., 2023). This paper contributes to this growing literature by exploring how media framed football clubs in Israel that symbolically represent the Arab-Palestinian minority and nationalist Jewish identity during the first sports season following the outbreak of the ongoing Israel–Hamas war starting October 7, 2023. In doing so, it investigates the extent to which mainstream sport media in Israel align with the principles of peace or war journalism.
Framing theory, foundational to media studies, illuminates how media selectively highlight aspects of reality to promote specific interpretations. As Entman (1993) defines it, framing involves selecting “some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient… to promote a particular problem definition” (p. 52). This process involves inclusion and exclusion, as media choose which actors, events, or perspectives to emphasize or omit, thereby shaping audience interpretations of social reality (Van Gorp, 2007). Individual frames can be issue-specific - tied to particular events or actors (e.g., portraying a football club as disloyal) - or generic, applying broader cultural or ideological templates (e.g., nationalism or conflict) (De Vreese, 2005). For example, conflict framing research on demonstrates how media can amplify divisions by emphasizing ethnic or national differences, as seen in the role of radio incitement during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda (Thompson, 2007) or the divisive media coverage surrounding the Capitol Hill riots of January 6th, 2021 (White et al., 2024).
Media thus operate not as neutral conveyors of information but as active agents in shaping social meaning (Gamson et al., 1992; Gurevitch & Curran, 2005). They can act as instruments of political elites, interest groups, or ideological agendas, with journalists and editors participating in what has been termed “outside lobbying” to influence public opinion (Gamson & Wolsfeld, 1993; Mintz & Redd, 2003; Tresch & Fischer, 2014; Wolsfeld, 2022).
In conflict settings, this framing power is especially consequential. Galtung (2002) distinguishes between “war journalism” and “peace journalism.” War journalism typically emphasizes violence, winners and losers, and military strategies, while ignoring peace efforts or structural causes. It reinforces enemy images and perpetuates fear and polarization (Ottosen, 2010). In contrast, peace journalism advocates for reporting that highlights reconciliation, humanizes all parties, and avoids inflammatory rhetoric (Lynch & McGoldrick, 2022).
Media Ecology, Conflict, and the Limits of Peace Journalism
Despite its normative appeal, peace journalism as a theoretical framework faces several limitations that require reevaluation in light of the changing media environment. First, peace journalism was primarily developed with a focus on international conflicts and global media. However, most contemporary conflicts are intra-state in nature and often occur in divided societies with complex domestic media landscapes (Raleigh et al., 2023). In such contexts, national media play a crucial role in sustaining or challenging dominant frames.
Studies of the Bosnian War, for example, reveal how competing factions advanced radically different frames—ranging from “ethnic war” to “genocide”—in efforts to gain global support and legitimize violence (Hammond, cited in Knüpfer & Entman, 2019). Similar dynamics appear in other conflicts, such as the portrayal of actors as “terrorists” or “freedom fighters,” or the Syrian government’s media portrayal of Israel (Brulin, 2020; Alrababa'h & Blaydes, 2021). These competing narratives illustrate how different actors vie to impose dominant frames while marginalizing alternative interpretations (Mintz & Redd, 2003).
Second, digital media have transformed the ecosystem of conflict reporting. Social media platforms, guided by algorithmic logics, tend to prioritize emotionally charged and polarizing content (Tandoc et al., 2017). During the Russia–Ukraine war, Russian and Western media offered drastically different interpretations of the same events, shaping sharply divergent public understandings (Hoskins & Shchelin, 2023). In countries like Myanmar, social media-fueled hate speech has incited real-world violence against minorities (Schissler, 2024). These patterns are increasingly visible in the context of the ongoing Israel–Hamas war, where social and mainstream media have circulated competing narratives, intensifying mistrust between communities (Kertcher & Turin, 2025).
However, traditional, institutional journalism still holds significant potential for constructive framing. Legacy media outlets that uphold professional norms—such as fact-checking, inclusive sourcing, and context-rich reporting—can counteract polarization. Initiatives such as BBC Media Action and UN peace journalism programs demonstrate how media can contribute to social cohesion (Howard, 2021). In Northern Ireland, the media served as a calming agent by refusing to align with the violent initiatives of the various belligerent parties (Wolsfeld, 2022). By amplifying marginalized voices and providing historical and social context, responsible journalism can reduce the likelihood of violence and promote mutual understanding.
Third, the media ecology of intra-state conflict is often more diversified than political media alone. In divided societies, individuals consume different types of content—entertainment, education, lifestyle, and notably, sports media—often segmented along linguistic, cultural, or ideological lines. These fragmented media systems mirror and reinforce existing social divisions, making it essential to expand peace journalism research into less conventional arenas.
The Case for Studying Sports Media in Wartime
Though traditionally sidelined in media and conflict research, sports journalism deserves greater attention, particularly during wartime. Like political media, it constructs narratives, generates emotional engagement, and invokes identity and belonging (Billings & Butterworth, 2021; Rowe, 2004). In divided societies, the framing of athletes, matches, and fan behavior can either reinforce social boundaries or foster symbolic unity (Giulianotti, 2011). Bias in sports media often parallels that of political media, reflecting selective coverage and deeper structural inequalities (Entman, 1993; Van Sterkenburg et al., 2010). Regional loyalty, ethnic preferences, and commercial interests shape editorial choices, influencing which teams and players are celebrated or marginalized.
“Normal” sports journalism, often seen as apolitical, tends to focus narrowly on competition, player performance, and club traditions, avoiding controversial social or political issues (Rowe, 2004). Sports narratives frequently emphasize competition, heroism, and redemption, turning matches into symbolic battlegrounds and athletes into national or communal icons (Wenner, 1998). However, during wartime, this “normal” logic may be disrupted as sports become a site for symbolic and ideological battles, reflecting broader societal tensions (Billings & Butterworth, 2021). This dramatization can amplify divisions, as team sports often align with social and ethnic identities, making matches potential sites for symbolic or violent confrontations, as seen in historical examples like the 1990 Dinamo Zagreb–Red Star Belgrade riot (Mills, 2018). In wartime, sports media’s emotional and symbolic power becomes particularly potent. Portrayals of ethnic minority athletes or “enemy” teams can inflame tensions—or serve as sites of cross-community empathy (Carrington, 2010; Van Sterkenburg et al., 2010; Wenner, 1998). As such, sports journalism offers a compelling lens for analyzing media, identity, and conflict. Peace journalism might frame a football match as an opportunity for shared identity rather than a site of ethnic conflict, countering war journalism’s divisive tendencies. These principles are particularly relevant in sports media, where framing can either exacerbate divisions by amplifying conflict-oriented narratives or foster inclusion by highlighting shared identities and empathy across communities as in Rwanda (Nzahabwanayo, 2019), South Africa (Black & Nauright, 1998), Sri Lanka (Schulenkorf, 2010). This study examines whether Israeli sports media adhered to “normal” sports journalism’s focus on apolitical coverage or shifted toward war journalism’s polarizing tendencies during the conflict.
Israel as a Case Study: Sport, Identity, and Conflict During the October 7 War
Israel serves as an excellent case study for examining the role of sport media in shaping perceptions of social division during wartime. As a multicultural and deeply divided society, Israel is fragmented across cultural, religious, and ethnic lines. Unlike the former secular hegemony, contemporary Israeli subcultures include Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Zionist-religious groups, and non-Jewish religious minorities. Culturally and ethnically, the dominance once held by Ashkenazi Jews has expanded to include Mizrahim, Russian immigrants, Ethiopian Jews, and Israeli Palestinian-Arabs (Lewin-Epstein & Cohen, 2018; Peled, 2018).
This paper focuses specifically on the Jewish–Arab Palestinian divide, as religious divisions play a negligible role in Israeli sport. Other cultural and ethnic divisions are also largely absent from sports discourse (Kertcher, 2021). We argue that within Israeli society, football clubs can serve as agents of social division. The study examines three clubs: Beitar Jerusalem, a Jewish club known for its ultra-nationalist fan base and history of anti-Arab sentiment; Bnei Sakhnin, an established Arab club with a strong Palestinian identity; and Bnei Reineh, a newer Arab club with less media prominence due to its recent entry into the top league and limited resources.
Football is the most popular sport in Israel. Arab citizens, who make up approximately 20% of the population, increasingly face rising Jewish nationalist sentiments that foster anti-Arab attitudes (Peled, 2018). The rift between Jews and Arab Palestinians remains the most significant social division in Israel. Relations between the two groups are marked by suspicion and social distance, with each group’s historical narrative rooted in traumatic collective memories that frame their survival as a zero-sum struggle (Bar-Tal, 1998; Bauer, 2002).
The national conflict between Israel and the Palestinian national movement places Israeli Palestinian-Arabs in a complex position. Culturally part of the Arab world yet citizens of a Jewish state, they embody a hybrid identity—both Israeli and Palestinian (Bligh & Hitman, 2018; Shehadeh, 2021; Smooha, 2022). This conflict, fueled by historical, religious, and political factors, permeates all aspects of life. Segregated education systems and discriminatory resource allocations in land, employment, housing, transportation, and language reinforce this divide (Arar & Mustafa, 2011; Pinson, 2019; Rudnitzky, 2015). Even within shared workplaces, political tensions undermine the development of positive relationships (Bar‐Tal & Hameiri, 2020). Jews continue to hold a significant advantage across almost all social and economic fields (Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, 2023).
Historical analyses reveal two simultaneous and conflicting trends among Arab Palestinians in Israel. On one hand, the separatist thesis highlights growing radicalization and Palestinization, with some also gravitating toward religious extremism. Scholars suggest that increased Palestinian national consciousness, alongside the rise of right-wing Jewish policies, has deepened Arab Palestinian alienation from Israel and strengthened identification with Palestinian nationalist and Islamist causes (Rekhess, 2014; Rosmer, 2012; Rouhana, 1997). On the other hand, the integration thesis (or Israelization) emphasizes growing cooperation and integration between Arab Palestinians and Israeli Jews, notably in fields such as healthcare and sports (Kertcher, 2016, 2021; Lidor & Blumenstein, 2012; Smooha, 2013; Wininger, 2024).
From the Jewish perspective, Israeli society has also undergone deep divisions since the 1990s (Cohen, 2024). Jewish citizens are divided between visions of a multicultural, tolerant society and movements advocating for stronger religious and nationalist values. Efforts have been made to construct a multicultural Israeli identity that incorporates Ultra-Orthodox Jews, secular Jews, and even Arab citizens (Lewin-Epstein & Cohen, 2018; Peled, 2018). However, there has been a steady rise in Jewish nationalist sentiment characterized by repressive attitudes toward perceived “others,” particularly Arab citizens, who are often framed as threats to Jewish religious-national dominance and Netanyahu’s leadership (Cohen, 2024; Mautner, 2011; Peled, 2018; Winston, 2025; Yonah, 2005). Jewish nationalist rhetoric emphasizes that Israeli Arabs threaten the Jewish character of the state (Freilich, 2018). Consequently, many Jews perceive Israeli Arab Palestinians as a “fifth column” and a security threat (Karsh, 2022).
The war that erupted on October 7th was the deadliest for civilians—both Jews and Arabs—since the 1948 War. Wars of this magnitude have the potential to amplify fear, entrench negative stereotypes, revive historical traumas, and foster political extremism in both communities.
This study examines how the major Hebrew-language media framed Arab football clubs and iconic nationalist Jewish football clubs during the conflict, using either peace journalism or war journalism strategies. The analysis explores how such media practices either deepen alienation or foster norms of integration and coexistence. RQ1: Did the ongoing Israel–Hamas war during the 2023–2024 season lead to biased or imbalanced coverage of Jewish versus Arab football clubs in Israeli sports media? • H1a: The war triggered a “rally-around-the-flag” effect that led to increased visibility and favorable framing of ultra-nationalist Jewish football clubs (e.g., Beitar Jerusalem), while disrupting previously observed numerical balance in coverage between Jewish and Arab clubs. •H1b: Mainstream Hebrew media platforms—regardless of political orientation—will demonstrate similar bias due to their shared goal of appealing to the Hebrew-speaking majority. As a result, Arab football clubs will be marginalized or sidelined in favor of Jewish nationalist teams. RQ2: How did the framing of Jewish and Arab football clubs differ during the war, in terms of peace versus war journalism indicators? • H2a (Jewish Nationalist Club – Beitar Jerusalem): Media framing of Beitar Jerusalem will reflect war journalism characteristics. This includes the justification or minimization of violent crowd behavior, the portrayal of the club and its supporters as patriotic actors, and the omission or reframing of anti-Arab sentiment as legitimate expressions of national solidarity. • H2b (Arab Football Clubs): Arab football clubs will be framed using selective elements of peace journalism, especially in human-interest or coexistence narratives. However, any incidents of controversy or violence involving Arab clubs or fans will be disproportionately emphasized, reinforcing negative stereotypes and questioning their loyalty to the state.
Methodology
This study employs a mixed-method approach combining quantitative content analysis with qualitative framing analysis to examine Hebrew-language sports media coverage of three Israeli football clubs—Beitar Jerusalem, Bnei Sakhnin, and Bnei Reineh—during the ongoing Israel–Hamas war. The goal is to assess not only the visibility of these clubs during wartime but also the tone, framing, and thematic narratives attached to them, particularly with regard to issues of national identity, inclusion, and exclusion.
The corpus includes sports-related articles published by two major Israeli news platforms, Ynet and Walla, between June 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024, covering the 2023–2024 football season. These platforms were selected for their national reach, substantial readership—as the two leading online news outlets in Israel—and their contrasting editorial orientations: Walla is generally viewed as holding a centrist-to-center-right stance, while Ynet is more closely aligned with mainstream national narratives and centrist-liberal perspectives. Articles were gathered using keyword searches for each club name (e.g., “בית”ר ירושלים,” “בני סכנין,” “בני ריינה”) across the sports sections of both websites.
The sample consists of 265 articles, distributed as follows: 103 on Beitar Jerusalem, 95 on Bnei Sakhnin, 57 on Bnei Reineh, and ten articles that related to both Arab football clubs. An effort was made to exclude regular reports on scores or player transfers.
Each article was coded for platform, date, headline, main topic, and tone. Tone was classified into three categories: (1) positive or integration-oriented (e.g., shared identity, peace narratives); (2) neutral (e.g., technical or match-related coverage without ideological framing); and (3) negative or exclusionary (e.g., suspicion, controversy, ethnonational tension, violence related). Additional coding dimensions included the presence of themes such as patriotic rituals, political protest, violence, and dual national affiliation.
The coding procedure involved several stages. First, two independent coders were trained. To evaluate reliability, Cohen’s Kappa was calculated as the primary statistical measure, accounting for agreement beyond chance. Initially, the Kappa values were lower, reflecting discrepancies between the coders (Neuenberg, 2002), achieving a reliability score of 0.68 for tone and 0.82 for thematic categories, indicating substantial agreement. To address these inconsistencies, a combined session was held with both coders to review disputed cases, discuss coding rationales, and resolve disagreements through consensus. This iterative process involved revisiting ambiguous articles, clarifying category definitions, and aligning interpretations, particularly for nuanced cases such as neutral versus charged tones and multi-label thematic assignments. After revision, the intercoder reliability was exceptionally high, with the tone Kappa at 0.8473 and the theme Kappa averaging 0.9348. These statistics confirm robust consistency in coding peace-oriented (e.g., inclusion, joint-national, Arab voices, POS) versus war-oriented (e.g., violence, political protest, NEG) narratives in football media, making the dataset reliable for the project.
Qualitative Variables for Framing Analysis
This dual-method strategy enables a layered understanding of how Arab and Jewish football clubs were positioned during the conflict. While quantitative data captures patterns in visibility and tone, the qualitative analysis reveals the subtleties of symbolic inclusion, marginalization, or silencing. The methodology reflects the paper’s broader aim: to explore how sports journalism contributes not only to public discourse but also to the maintenance—or disruption—of societal fault lines in times of war.
Findings
The analysis of Hebrew-language sports media coverage during the 2023–2024 football season, amid the Israel–Hamas war, reveals distinct framing patterns in the portrayal of Beitar Jerusalem, Bnei Sakhnin, and Bnei Reineh. These patterns reflect a dynamic interplay between conventional sports reporting, war journalism, and sporadic instances of peace journalism. The coverage illustrates how the media selectively included or marginalized certain narratives to construct perceptions of national identity and belonging, often reinforcing existing ethno-national hierarchies.
Relative Balance in Coverage Volume
Despite initial expectations driven by the “rally-around-the-flag” hypothesis, the data in Chart 1 shows no clear dominance in media coverage of Beitar Jerusalem over Arab football clubs. Of the 265 articles analyzed, 162 were dedicated to Arab teams and 103 to Beitar Jerusalem. (1) These figures suggest that a numerical imbalance favoring Beitar did not emerge. In fact, Arab teams collectively received more attention than Beitar. (2) However, Bnei Reineh received notably less coverage compared to the more established Arab club, Bnei Sakhnin. This suggests a disparity among Arab teams rather than between Arab and Jewish clubs.
Explaining the Reineh Exception: Bnei Reineh, a relatively new entrant to Israel’s top football league, had several characteristics that likely contributed to its limited media visibility. First, As a recent promotion, only from 2022-2023, Reineh lacks the long-standing tradition and fan base of other clubs. Second, the club is operating on a minimal budget and without a home stadium, the club struggles to attract consistent media interest. Third, located in the country’s socio-political periphery, Reineh receives less attention than clubs based in major urban centers.
These findings suggest that media visibility is influenced not only by ethnic or national identity, but also by club stature, geography, and institutional history. Despite Beitar’s relative financial power (ranking fourth in the top division), deep-rooted tradition, and status as the capital’s symbolic team, its media coverage was not disproportionately dominant. The numbers point to a relatively balanced quantitative treatment across the studied outlets (Walla and Ynet), though qualitative framing remains a separate dimension to be evaluated. This balance in volume aligns with normal sports journalism’s focus on established clubs but is disrupted by qualitative differences in framing, as discussed below (Rowe, 2004). Football Clubs by News Outlets
Media Platform Differences: Unequal Representation of Arab Clubs
This finding addresses RQ1 by examining whether media bias manifested not only in club-related coverage but also in the editorial decisions of specific platforms. It also contributes to RQ2 by showing how internal dynamics within the Hebrew-language media ecosystem may amplify or mitigate representational imbalance across Jewish and Arab football clubs.
While overall coverage volumes were relatively balanced between Jewish and Arab clubs, a closer inspection reveals significant variation between the two leading Hebrew-language news platforms—Walla and Ynet—particularly in their attention to Arab teams. First, the study identifies a platform imbalance as Walla published 182 articles, more than double the number by Ynet (83 articles) over the same period. Second, there is a clear bias in team-specific focus. Of Ynet’s Arab-related articles, 68% focused on Bnei Sakhnin, while only 22% featured Bnei Reineh. This skew suggests a narrow editorial lens that privileges more established Arab teams over newer or less prominent ones.
Walla showed a more even distribution, with 43% of its Arab-related articles covering Reineh. Although Sakhnin still received more attention, the proportional gap was narrower, indicating a comparatively more inclusive editorial approach.
This finding underscores that platform-specific editorial strategies affect how Arab clubs are represented. Ynet’s lower overall output and focus on Sakhnin may reflect a tendency to center coverage on Arab narratives that are already normalized within the Israeli sports sphere, while sidelining less established actors such as Reineh. This aligns with H2b, which anticipates a selective adoption of peace journalism elements that highlight coexistence but avoid deeper or more complex representations of Arab participation.
To summarize, whereas Beitar Jerusalem coverage remained relatively stable across platforms, Arab club representation—particularly for Bnei Reineh—varied significantly. These differences point to editorial choices rooted in symbolic inclusion rather than structural equality reflecting a selective framing that privileges established Arab narratives (Entman, 1993).
While both platforms exhibit tendencies to marginalize less prominent Arab teams, Walla shows greater editorial openness to including peripheral narratives. This nuance complicates the assumption of complete homogenization within Hebrew-language sports media.
Framing Analysis of Beitar Jerusalem
The analysis of Beitar Jerusalem’s media coverage reveals three major thematic clusters: violence and crowd behavior, nationalist-oriented social initiatives, and general managerial or sporting issues. These themes reflect a framing pattern that aligns closely with war journalism’s tendency to minimize ideological conflict and amplify patriotic narratives, aligning with H2a (Galtung, 2002; Lynch & McGoldrick, 2022).
Violence and Fan Behavior
Violence was the most prominent theme, as expected for a club historically associated with ultra-nationalist and aggressive crowd conduct. From the sample of articles collected, Ynet published 19 articles and Walla 41 on this subject—indicating a similar proportional emphasis on Beitar-related violence across both platforms.
The coverage included: Repetitive reports of violent fan actions, such as physical assaults, the use of slurs, and inflammatory signs directed at opposing teams. Descriptions of disciplinary measures, including league-imposed penalties against the club. Hostile behavior toward Beitar’s own players and management, such as booing the manager after losses and fans threatening players to improve performance. For example, a Ynet article reported fans shouting, “Look, he’s not a Jew!” during an ambush of opposing supporters, framing the incident as isolated rather than ideologically driven (Walla, 4 Oct. 2023). Hostile behavior toward Beitar’s own players and management was also noted, such as booing the manager after losses. Limited but notable references to the ultra-nationalist fan group La Familia appeared only in extreme cases, such as a soldier-fan attacking opponents, prompting IDF disciplinary action (Ynet, 3 Oct. 2023). The incident provoked ministerial responses. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is from the far right ‘Jewish Power’ (Otzma Yehudit) party criticized what he termed “excessive enforcement” against La Familia (Walla, 4 Oct. 2023). Another incident documented a video clip of Beitar fans cursing and taunting Israeli demonstrators, who were advocating for a hostage release deal with Hamas. In the article itself it was summarized as a “verbal confrontation” (Walla, 28 Feb. 2024).
Simultaneously, Beitar’s management was frequently given a platform to deflect responsibility, attributing the violence to a “small minority” and urging law enforcement to intervene. One example is the promise that the management “will talk to fans and distribute tickets for away games only subject to a commitment that racist chants will not be heard” (Walla, 21 Dec. 2023), or when Ynet pubslihed an article on a young Arab in her 20s who is a player in the Beitar Women team that explains that “our team is not racist” (Ynet, 2 Sept. 2023)
Despite the frequency of violent incidents, most coverage adopted a generalized framing, referring broadly to “racism” or “crowd violence” without exploring anti-Arab ideology explicit in chants like “Let your village burn,” “Let the IDF win, fuck the Arabs” reported by the Kick Racism and Violence Out of Israeli Soccer (KIO) campaign (New Israeli Fund, 2024). This selective omission aligns with frames of war journalism’s tendency to downplay structural issues, reinforcing Beitar’s image as a patriotic symbol rather than a source of division (Entman, 1993; Lynch & McGoldrick, 2022).
Nationalist-Aligned Social Initiatives
The second framing cluster focused on Beitar’s engagement in symbolic acts of national unity during wartime. This theme was present in 24 articles (23% of total Beitar coverage) and included commemorations for Israeli civilians and soldiers killed or kidnapped on or after October 7th; Hospital visits by players to wounded soldiers and civilians; and Aid initiatives for displaced Israeli communities.
These reports framed Beitar as a patriotic emblem, aligning with war journalism’s focus on national solidarity (Galtung, 2002; Lynch & McGoldrick, 2022). Walla published 22 such stories, often reported by reporter Ofir Saar, while Ynet published only two such stories. Notably, these stories excluded Jewish–Arab relations, reinforcing an exclusionary form of civic identity.
Management and General Issues
The final thematic group involved non-ideological coverage related to internal club matters. A total of 19 articles (19%) addressed these issues, divided as follows: Ynet – 7 articles; Walla – 12 articles.
The content included tensions between the team’s owner and general manager; financial concerns, particularly the owner’s reluctance to resume games without a paying audience due to sanctions; and sporting commentary on Beitar’s ambitions, performance, and morale.
This cluster contributed a veneer of neutrality to Beitar’s media portrayal, typical of normal sports journalism, avoided contextualizing ideological tensions (Billings and Buttwerwoth, 2021; Rowe, 2004), effectively silencing opportunities for peace-oriented narratives (Lynch & McGoldrick, 2022).
To summarize, the overall framing of Beitar Jerusalem across Walla and Ynet aligns strongly with war journalism traits. First, Minimization or rationalization of ideological violence, particularly anti-Arab racism. Second, Elevated visibility of patriotic rituals, which are selectively highlighted to affirm national unity. Third, Silence on coexistence or structural racism, even in articles on social outreach.
While Ynet and Walla differed in the extent of their engagement with Beitar’s social initiatives, both platforms participated in a broader process of normalization: nationalist violence was treated as a manageable nuisance, while the club’s symbolic value during wartime was amplified. These framing patterns suggest that Beitar Jerusalem functioned as a media proxy for nationalist solidarity, allowing Hebrew sports outlets to channel public emotion into a familiar cultural vehicle—football—while marginalizing dissenting voices or alternative identities.
Arab Football Clubs in the 2023–2024 War: Between Peace, War, and Neutral Framing
The Israeli–Hamas war that began in October 2023 served as a revealing moment for Hebrew-Israeli sports media coverage of Arab football clubs. Analysis of two prominent Arab teams—Bnei Sakhnin and Bnei Reineh—along with broader stories of Arab participation in football, illustrates how the media navigated the tension between peace journalism, war journalism, and neutral reporting often reflecting symbolic marginalization or silencing through selective inclusion and exclusion (Entman, 1993; Van Gorp, 2007).
Peace Journalism: Symbolic Gestures, Filtered Inclusion
Despite the war’s potential to foster solidarity through sport, peace journalism was rare, filtered, and largely symbolic in the coverage of Arab clubs. Bnei Sakhnin saw only four articles that could be framed as promoting coexistence, and even these were indirect. Walla published a profile of a Jewish footballer murdered at the Nova festival who had played for both Beitar and Sakhnin, hinting a before shared legacy but avoiding explicit Jewish–Arab dialogue (Walla, 20 Oct. 2023). Bnei Reineh’s coverage included gestures like support for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, such as an interview with its Jewish coach, Sharon Mimer: “Bnei Reineh condemned what happened from day one and went to visit the displaced and shared in the people’s grief. This is a beautiful gesture and not something that is taken for granted” (Walla, 9 Dec. 2023). Yet, no Arab players or officials were interviewed. All moral framing came via Jewish intermediaries, limiting the depth and authenticity of peace journalism.
A pre-war gesture of political solidarity with Arabs received limited coverage such as when the head of political opposition received a headline: “injured Sakhnin midfielder receives phone call from MK Benny Gantz, who attended the game, wishing him a speedy recovery.” (Walla, 3 Sept. 2023), contrasting MK for the government “Woe to the hypocrisy: Tali Gottlieb’s rant - tweet” using a game with Bnei Sakhnin to incite (Ynet, 27 Sept. 2023). The media framed both actions around individual character rather than broader coexistence.
Shared Arab perspectives were also underreported. A rare initiative by Arab football leaders to seek Muslim world help for hostage release appeared in just one brief mention across both platforms (Walla, 15 Nov. 2023; Ynet, 15 Nov. 2023). Likewise, only two Walla articles (both on October 2023) addressed the emotional and social dilemmas faced by Arab players—revealing an “impossible predicament” of identity, caught between competing communal expectations “On the one hand, the Jews who once again expect condemnation. On the other, the Arabs who have difficulty containing criticism” (Walla, 12 Oct. 2023).
These examples support Hypothesis 2b: peace journalism, when it did appear, was filtered, largely symbolic, and lacked Arab-authored narratives. The media missed key opportunities to promote empathy, mutual recognition, or inclusive discourse. This limited, filtered inclusion reflects peace journalism’s principles but lacks depth, as Arab perspectives were rarely sourced, reinforcing symbolic marginalization (Lynch & McGoldrick, 2022).
War Journalism: Controversy, Loyalty Tests, and the Threat Frame
War journalism dominated Bnei Sakhnin coverage, with 36% of Sakhnin-related articles covering incidents such as fans booing “Hatikvah” (Israel’s national anthem, played before all top-league matches during the war) or turning their backs during the anthem, acts which were framed as disloyalty.
These acts were repeatedly portrayed as symbolic of Arab defiance or ingratitude. Although Sakhnin’s officials protested double standards - “it is easy to lynch us in such times” (Ynet, 10 Mar. 2024), or “The club’s position has always been clear and transparent and will remain so. First of all, the anthem must be respected. A person who has a personal opinion can voice it and express it on his personal level. The football stands are supposed to be a field that yields sporting values and social action that unites all levels of society” (Walla, 1 May 2024) - their voices were largely overwhelmed by headlines condemning their behavior and implying national disloyalty “The uproar over the insulting of the national anthem, the police announced that they will open an investigation” (Ynet, 10 Mar. 2024); “Another insult to the national anthem? Bnei Sakhnin is expected to be fined, only this time” (Walla, 2 May 2024).
A particularly charged incident was the booing of Ethiopian-Israeli player, Menashe Zalka, an IDF reservist who had fought in the war for months and was called a “murderer” by some fans. This incident was framed by Ynet as a broader attack on the IDF and national unity with titles such as “Minister of Sport: we will not let our reservists be humiliated” (Ynet, 13 March 2024) and “a wake-up call for Bnei Sakhnin management” (Ynet, 15 Mar. 2024). Walla provided some balance by interviewing the club’s chair, Abu Younis: “They always come down on us and throw stones at us; they don’t let us defend ourselves” (Walla, 10 Mar. 2024) but still centered patriotic outrage despite interviewing Abu Younis.
A dominant theme was the alleged disloyalty of Arab-Israeli players called up to the Palestinian national team. Articles framed these call-ups as divisive, emphasizing Jewish players’ anger “How can one be a resident of the State of Israel and represent Palestine in one of the most difficult times the country has ever known?” (Ynet, 15 Nov. 2023) or the club’s internal crisis. The broader context—of dual identity or shared Palestinian heritage—was minimized or pathologized. The coverage amplified nationalist positions and suspicion during wartime, resonating with historical discomfort over Arab representation in Palestinian football using such frame as: “Their decision came five weeks after Hamas’ murderous terror attack on Israel and the massacre they carried out against residents neighboring the Gaza Strip and partygoers who had come to a party in Kibbutz Re’im”. Another technique was quoting another Arab player interviewed by Arab News: “In Israel, they are trying to feed the Arab players narratives… I internalized that it is impossible to separate sports from politics, and that if I want to represent the Arabs of ‘48, there are better ways than wearing the uniform of the Israeli national team and standing for the anthem” (Walla, 14 Nov. 2023).
War journalism also extended to depictions of Arab society as violent or unstable. When a Sakhnin youth player was shot and turned to a handicap, Ynet featured multiple human-interest stories “The player who was shot will never play football again: ‘His dream is over’” (Ynet, 23 July 2023). However, these reports failed to explore systemic issues such as marginalization, poverty, or policing—thus reducing structural problems to tragic but isolated episodes.
These examples demonstrate how wartime conditions intensify the securitized framing of Arab identity in sport, presenting Arab clubs as “problematic,” suspicious, or disloyal actors within the national fabric which aligns with Galtung (2002) theory of war journalism as polarizing.
Neutral Journalism: Professionalism Without Context
Neutral framing, while seemingly apolitical, often reflected decontextualized or superficial engagement with Arab clubs’ wartime realities.
About 41% of Sakhnin’s coverage—mostly match reports and staff interviews—was neutral, especially in Walla. However, even this neutrality was revealed in its omissions. There was minimal attention to the cultural pressures or security concerns affecting Arab players and fans during the war. When prominent Arab players like Beram Kayal or Abbas Suan were profiled, their ethnic and political context was absent (Ynet, 2 Sept. 2023; Walla, 24 Mar. 2024).
A typical example was coverage of a Sakhnin–Beitar match in February 2024 that ignored the historical tension between the clubs and their symbolic roles in Arab–Jewish relations (Walla, 17 Feb. 2024).
In the case of Bnei Reineh, Ynet’s reporting was almost entirely neutral but also notably minimal. Aside from brief updates, there were no in-depth features, interviews with Arab figures, or contextual discussion of the club’s displacement from its stadium due to Hezbollah rockets.
Even when Walla offered more frequent coverage of Reineh, it largely centered on Jewish personnel, especially coach Sharon Mimer. Arab players or officials were absent from public discourse, reinforcing the idea that visibility does not equal voice. Neutral coverage thus operated as a form of symbolic erasure: appearing objective but neglecting the lived reality of Arab clubs during a moment of acute national division. This neutrality, while appearing objective, reinforces marginalization by excluding structural context, undermining peace journalism’s call for empathy and inclusion (Lynch & McGoldrick, 2022).
To summarize, the war exposed how Hebrew-Israeli sports media constructs Arab clubs not only through controversy but also through silence and symbolic tokenism. Bnei Sakhnin, despite high media visibility, was framed predominantly through conflict and loyalty crises. Bnei Reineh, though more neutral or symbolically celebrated, was rendered voiceless. Shared Arab narratives remained marginal, and when included, were mediated through Jewish spokespeople or brief emotional vignettes.
Together, the evidence affirms Hypothesis 1b and 2b: Arab clubs are either marginalized or included conditionally, depending on how well they fit dominant national frames. Peace journalism, when present, is rare, symbolic, and filtered. War journalism and neutral framing reproduce or obscure structural inequality rather than challenge it. The potential of football to serve as a site of shared identity, recognition, and resistance to conflict logic remains largely unfulfilled. Instead, wartime media tends to reinforce ethnonational boundaries, shaping public imagination through exclusion, suspicion, or decontextualized professionalism.
Discussion
The findings demonstrate how sports media during the 2023–2024 Israel–Hamas war served as a site for constructing ethnonational identities, often reinforcing divisions through framing practices. Coverage of Beitar Jerusalem aligned with war journalism by minimizing ideological violence and amplifying patriotic narratives, supporting H2a (Galtung, 2002). Arab clubs - particularly Bnei Sakhnin - were framed through suspicion or decontextualized neutrality, partially supporting H2b, as peace journalism was rare and filtered. The balanced volume of coverage (contrary to H1a) suggests normal sports journalism’s influence, but qualitative disparities reveal selective inclusion and exclusion, marginalizing Arab voices (Entman, 1993; Van Gorp, 2007). These patterns reflect how sports, as a team-based activity, can become a venue for symbolic confrontations, as seen historically in conflicts like the Yugoslav Wars (Mills, 2018), challenging the optimistic view of sports as a unifying force (Giulianotti, 2011).
Compared to prior studies - such as Kertcher’s (2021) analysis of Arab football clubs in Israel - this study shows a persistence of war journalism tendencies in wartime sports media, with limited progress toward peace-oriented framing. The omission of Arab perspectives aligns with other studies (Billings & Butterworth, 2021; Van Sterkenburg et al., 2010) on ethnic bias in sports media, suggesting that structural inequalities shape coverage even in “soft” domains.
Conclusion
Hypothesis Verification
H1a was not supported, as Arab clubs received comparable coverage volume to Beitar Jerusalem, likely due to normal sports journalism’s focus on established clubs (Billings & Butterworth, 2021; Rowe, 2004).
H1b was partially supported, as Ynet’s selective focus on Bnei Sakhnin reflects bias toward dominant narratives, though Walla’s broader coverage complicates this.
H2a was fully supported, with Beitar framed as a patriotic symbol, minimizing the phenomenon of crowd violence.
H2b was partially supported, as peace journalism was minimal and overshadowed by war journalism’s focus on controversy. Both hypotheses support theory of peace and war journalism in sport coverage (Galtung, 2002; Lynch & McGoldrick, 2022)
Limitations
The study is limited by its focus on two Hebrew-language platforms which, while among the most viewed in Israel, exclude Arab-language media, that could present contrasting frames. The qualitative analysis, while rigorous, relied on a sample of articles and may have missed nuanced variations - for example, coverage of mixed football teams with both Jewish and Arab players.
Future Research
This study opens several avenues for future explorations that may deepen our understanding of communication and sport. First, research should examine Arab-language media to compare framing across linguistic divides – an especially relevant approach in any conflict setting. Second, longitudinal analyses could assess whether peace journalism increases in post-conflict periods, such as regarding the sensitive issue of Arab participation in national teams. Third, analyzing fan reactions on social media to peace and war journalism articles could further illuminate how sports media shapes public discourse.
Footnotes
Acknowledgement
I thank the participants of the 2024 international conference at the Ben-Gurion University Sport Center and the anonymous reviewers of this journal for their valuable comments.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.