Film about Beitar Jerusalem’s racist fans wins Emmy award

“Forever Pure,” a film dealing with the racist subculture among fans of Jerusalem’s Beitar football club, won an Emmy Award for the best outstanding politics and government documentary.

The film by Israeli director Maya Zinshtein deals with La Familia, a group of far-right, anti-Arab Beitar fans and their response to the team signing its first Muslim players — two Chechens — as well as to the wave of lone-wolf attacks that engulfed Israel in 2015.

“‘Forever Pure’ is a stranger-than-fiction documentary about an Israeli football club. We hope that it also becomes a warning of how racism can destroy a team or a society from within,” executive producer Lois Vossen said.

The film was broadcast on PBS in 2016 and is available on Netflix. The Emmy was handed out Monday.