posted on Nov, 9 2009 @ 11:11 AM
Gershon Explains His Racist Remarks to Knesset Panel.
Haaretz [Israeli newspaper], July 4, 2001
"Maccabi Tel Aviv's outgoing [professional] basketball coach, Pini Gershon, yesterday offered a full explanation to the Knesset committee for
prevention of violence in sport, following the publication this week of racist remarks that he had made several months ago ... . Yedioth Ahronoth's
Web site, Y-Net, published a report on Sunday in which Gershon is quoted as telling a closed forum of senior IDF [Israeli military] officers that
'even among blacks there are different colors. There is dark black, and there is mocha. The mocha type are more clever, and the darker color usually
come from the street.' The report said that the often overly-vivacious Gershon drew laughter from his listeners. He then continued unfazed: 'I am
not joking. You can see the standing of those with a bit more mixture in their color, such as Andrew Kennedy. You can see his personality. He will
check you out, he is clever. The other (darker) blacks are stupid. They will do whatever you tell them, like slaves.' Gershon told the Knesset
committee that the words were uttered last September and that none of the officers present made any comment to him about his remarks. 'They were
happy, we spoke jovially. I spoke about all the players and none of them criticized me,' he said yesterday."
Some IDF Officers Asked for Copies of Gershon's Speech.
Haaretz [Israeli newspaper], July 8, 2001
"Basketball coach Pini Gershon's speech in which he referred to black basketball players as having a slave mentality and the color of their skin as
an indicator of their intelligence, so impressed some of the officers who heard it last November that they asked for copies of the videotape of the
lecture. Even after the scandal broke out, many of the reserve officers, who were in the course for brigade commanders, don't understand why
Gershon's racist remarks caused a scandal. One said 'Gershon's comments were taken as a colorful expression, as humor. We didn't think of it as
racist. After all, he didn't incite us against blacks, but just gave an extreme example to make his speech tangible.' The officer called Gershon's
speech 'brilliant. He gave a professional talk about leadership and the difficulty of turning a group of very different people, with huge egos, into
a winning team. That's part of what we face.' 'I consider myself an enlightened person,' said another of the officers. 'But I have to admit that
I didn't fall off my chair when he said what he did. We all hear things like that here.' According to the officers, a divisional commander, Brig.
Gen. Yoav Gallant, recently lectured in the U.S. on the relationship between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and used the analogy of a dog and
its master. Arabs in the lecture complained. 'It all depends on what is said and the context,' said one of the officers."
Yet more evidence of Isfake racism.