Chris Selley: A two-hour oasis from the anti-Israel protests is worth the price

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) has made geopolitical news a few times this year thanks to a new policy: As of March, it bans from Scotiabank Arena “signs, symbols, images, flags, clothing, banners that may be considered vulgar, discriminatory, disrespectful, political or a tool to be used for incitement or protest.”

It was clearly designed to keep the Palestinian-Israeli conflict out of hockey and basketball games and that’s where it has proven controversial. Two Toronto lawyers initially ran afoul of the policy for wearing to a Raptors game hoodies displaying a star of David and the declaration, “bring our hostages home.” They chose to leave sooner than take them off. Last week, a video surfaced on social media of a man being turfed from a Raptors game apparently for wearing a hat with a pro-Palestinian message.

MLSE isn’t alone in doing this. Major League Soccer banned all flags from its stadiums league-wide after the Oct. 7 attacks last year. Some, including the English Premier League, went ahead and said what they really meant: “No Israel or Palestinian flags.” Some stipulated “no flags except of the two teams/countries competing.” MLSE said it wouldn’t allow anything “political” or that could be used “for incitement or protest,” and specifically mentioned Israeli and Palestinian symbols in what appears to be a list of only two.

Some on both sides are, naturally, aggrieved. “Persecuting a fan for wearing a sweater emblazoned with a Jewish star and demanding the return of the hostages, a position supported by the Canadian government and its allies around the world, is a deplorable and unnecessary misuse of authority,” B’nai Brith complained about the lawyers’ expulsion.

On public property, I would share these concerns. But I completely understand and appreciate the goal of walling off some spaces from foreign conflicts — especially foreign conflicts that Canada really can’t do much to affect. A lot of people come to Canada to escape wars, after all. And not many things have less to do with conditions on the ground in Gaza than at an NHL hockey game. There aren’t many places where an Israeli or Palestinian flag makes less sense.

The idea of “depoliticizing” sports is gospel to the International Olympic Committee, which is doubly ridiculous. Not only can you not depoliticize sport — it’s just “war without the guns,” as Orwell wrote — the Olympics are the best example of that. This is the organization that awarded Hitler the 1938 Olympics, then hosted the massacre of 12 members of the Israeli team in Munich in 1970. Some politics were involved along the way, I’m sorry to report.

Hockey is no exception to this. When the Maple Leafs say they don’t want “politics” in the arena, I immediately get an image of a Canadian soldier rappelling to the ice from the rafters on Armed Forces Night. When the Winnipeg Jets projected the Ukrainian flag onto the ice and had the Hoosli Ukrainian Male Chorus sing the Ukrainian national anthem in March 2022, with two Russian players suited up for the game no less, that was politics. It was beautiful and moving and appropriate, but also politics.

Meanwhile, the National Hockey League itself cut all ties with the KHL and other business partners in Russia, and even shut down its Russian-language media sites, despite hundreds of Russians and very few Ukrainians having played in the NHL. “The National Hockey League condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the league said in a statement. The NHL also intervened early this year when the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) tried of ban Israel from its competitions, but enthusiastically banned Russia.

Clearly there are many examples above of what partisans would call a double standard: It’s not “politics” they don’t want, but certain kinds of politics. If I were Jewish, I might understand the desire not to import havoc inside the arena — but I would also suggest that it’s not Jewish fans that arenas need to worry about.

It’s a policy that raises as many questions as it answers. But it must be said, it’s no worse than Canada’s efforts as a nation to get a handle on what’s acceptable protest and what isn’t. After more than a year of anti-Israel protests, no one really knows anymore: Politicians and police draw lines in the sand, and people keep marching over them.

At least at Scotiabank Arena you know. If you have to sacrifice your apparel of choice, at least you’re promised a few hours where you needn’t think about the horrors of Oct. 7, and the horrors in Gaza that followed, and the prospect of a much larger regional war breaking out. You’re promised a place where everyone’s cheering for the same team, despite huge differences. And doesn’t that sound nice?

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