Beitar Jerusalem attacks Itzik Ovadia: "A small CEO in a big club"
The yellow-and-blacks are furious at Maccabi Haifa's reaction to not winning the President's Award: "He struggled to accept the committee's results and sent harsh messages to its members." The greens replied: "Ovadia did not contact any of the committee members, Beitar should apologize."
After Beitar Jerusalem won the President's Award for social action for the first time yesterday (Sunday), it seems that Maccabi Haifa's reaction to not winning was less than positive — according to the club from the capital, which released a particularly harsh and unusual statement against the CEO of the greens, Itzik Ovadia.
Beitar claims that Ovadia struggled to accept the results of the committee that chose the Jerusalemites, and even sent unusual and harsh messages to the committee members. The club from the capital did not let this pass in silence and launched a sharp jab:
"We are surprised that in such a big club there is such a small CEO who tries to intimidate over a special community award. The award is exactly where it belongs, and we also share great respect for the activities of the field staff of Maccabi Haifa and the other teams in the league."
The greens published an official statement in which they defended Ovadia and even demanded an apology from Beitar:
"We would like to clarify unequivocally that the club's CEO, Itzik Ovadia, did not contact any of the committee members, neither directly nor indirectly. Presenting things in this way is incorrect and does a disservice to reality. We distance ourselves from Beitar Jerusalem's reaction, which lacks the statesmanship that characterizes this award, and we assume it stemmed from various publications, and for this, they should apologize to our club."
The statement further read: "We respect the committee's decision and the winners, our friends from Beitar Jerusalem, and we will continue to work for the community and Israeli society as we have done for decades, because contributing to the community is a victory for us all."
As recalled, the ceremony held at the President's Residence awarded Beitar the prize for excellence in community work among Premier League clubs. Alongside the Jerusalemite victory, Maccabi Haifa president Yaakov Shahar and Hapoel Be'er Sheva president Alona Barkat received the personal badge of honor from the President of the State Isaac Herzog for their many years of work in Israeli sports.
