A very serious case in Israeli football. The referees’ union backed Daniel Bar Natan’s decision to disqualify the goal scored by Hapoel Beer Sheva deep in overtime against Hapoel Hadera, but from the moment Bar Natan made the right decision, he has been receiving threats and harassment from fans who identify as Beer Sheva fans in recent days.
In one of the messages Bar Natan received, it read: “May God pay you for the points you took for free from Be’er Sheva. You will not see a blessing in your livelihood that you receive from the referees’ union. And the crowd will return to the games and 15,000 will not forget what you did. “
Other, no less acute and serious messages, which were conveyed to the treatment, read: “You will receive paralysis in the head. Bad news on Hanukkah”; “You’re a piece of slut, fucking in the ass, stinking gambler”; “You’ll get paralysis in your mouth and you won’t be able to whistle.”
According to sources in the judges’ union, Bar Natan forwarded the dozens of messages he received to the union’s mobile device and social networks, and a request will be made to the police. Bar Natan is not the first to receive threats and harassment from football fans, when he was preceded by Alon Yefet and Vigal Fried, who filed complaints with the police in February 2019 after receiving threats on their lives and the lives of their families from Betar Jerusalem fans.
“We will cross a red line,” the union said. Some of the correspondence has been forwarded for legal advice and is disclosed here. Most of the posts are from identified numbers and on social media from active fan accounts. In addition, a photo of the referee was sent to the referees’ union with the caption: “He will not pass in silence. Daniel Bar Natan, you are ashamed of Israeli football.”
Hapoel Beer Sheva said in response to the exposure of the sports channel: “We take very seriously any manifestation of violence.”