Israelis haven’t taken David Blatt’s firing very well, and apparently have taken a serious disliking to LeBron James as a result of it.
One sports commentator compared the Israeli’s hate of LeBron to that of their hate of the Islamist movement Hamas. Hamas seeks the total destruction of Israel, and is a recognized terrorist organization by the United States.
LeBron James is being compared to a terrorist organization.
Insults and racist comments have been written in Hebrew all over his Instagram account.
“LeBron James is now the most hated person in Israel,” Sharon Davidovitch, a sports journalist for Israeli news site Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, told Agence France-Presse.
Stuart Douglass, who played basketball for the Michigan Wolverines, and now plays for Hapoel Gilboa Galil in Israel, says that the Cavaliers games aren’t on TV now, because everybody hates LeBron.
Israeli TV won't put the Cavs games on now since Blatt got fired and now everyone hates Lebron. Really messing with my Bron viewing.
— Stuart Douglass (@SWD_317) January 25, 2016
Blatt really was a hero back in Israel. When the Cavaliers made the Finals last season, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, contacted Blatt to congratulate him and the Cavaliers. Netanyahu told Blatt, “all of Israel is behind the Cavaliers.”
Netanyahu also, “invited the Cavs to come to Israel to play against the Prime Minister’s Office basketball team,” according to Cleveland.com.
LeBron James and the Cavaliers organization have said repeatedly that he did not have a hand in Blatt’s firing, but they all have had a hard time convincing people of such. James has never really backed Blatt, and it was well known for a while that the two didn’t have a great relationship. If James truly wanted Blatt to stay in Cleveland, it doesn’t seem that farfetched that it would happen. But it didn’t.
The love and pride that Israel feels towards Blatt definitely seems to be a similar situation to that of the pride that China took when Yao Ming was having his great success in the NBA as well. It’s truly an international game, but the NBA is as big as it gets, and the impact it has globally is enormous.
For those nations to feel that they have a hand in the NBA is a big deal. To have it taken away certainly rubs them the wrong way.
