Zirin Freaks Out Over NBA Good Will Trip to Israel

July 27th, 2015 9:39 AM

Once again, loon-left publication The Nation reminds us that in this time of exquisite PC sensitivity, we can all still hate on Israel.

Reminder #1,805,377 of this fact came on Saturday, with the news that NBA player Omri Casspi took a delegation of fellow NBA ballers to Israel. According to the Jerusalem post, the visit by the players is “… part of a joint initiative between NBA Cares, the league’s global community outreach initiative, and the Omri Casspi Foundation, an organization set up by the player aimed at presenting Israel in a positive light across the world.”

Why would there need to be a foundation organized for the sole purpose of presenting Israel in a “positive light across the world?” Largely because of the hysterical bleatings of Hamas boot-lickers like The Nation. Within hours of the story Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation, threw the hissiest of hissy fits directed at Casspi, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, and a man named Sheldon Adelson who in part funded the trip.

Zirin’s main beef is that Sheldon Adelson, who is a billionaire political donor, likes Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and thinks Israel should most assuredly not be wiped off the face of the Earth in a nuclear holocaust. Adelson lent his Boeing 747 to the players for this friendship visit which, in Zirin’s mind, makes this a “political hit job.”

The #BDS that Zirin references is the “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions” movement that anti-Semites are now organizing on college campuses throughout the country to persuade universities and companies to divest in Israel in an effort to economically and socially isolate the country.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver won a tremendous amount of praise from the media – sports and mainstream – for his handling of the Donald Sterling situation after racially offensive audio clips of Sterling emerged, but Silver will reap the whirlwind for this. That same media – sports and mainstream – is radically lefty and decidedly anti-Israel. (Which really makes Dave Zirin writing about sports for The Nation kind of redundant.)

Yet, the outrage here is silly. According to Zirin’s tweets, the players, interviewed as to why they were going on the trip, gave their friendship with Casspi as the reason. Essentially, they said, “Hey, this guy is an Israeli. I like him. Let me go see what this whole thing is about.” Which is the exact kind of reasoned and thoughtful approach that drives people like Zirin nuts, because when people think for themselves and rely on their own real-life experiences, they’re less susceptible to being duped by the warped antisemitism of the BDS.

In recent years, we’ve seen sports stars like Lebron James do endorsements for Obamacare, and sports empires like the NFL get in bed with groups like the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which is in league with the same Planned Parenthood that treats infant humans like Pintos in a chop-shop. Even though Casspi’s mission to Israel is not really political (after all, liberal and conservative Israeli’s are effected by boycotts. Nor, are the players going to be made to swear allegiance to Likud as a part of the deal) and only geared towards exposing the real Israel to the rest of the world, it was only a matter of time before people on the other side started using athletes and athletics to help their cause.

Dave Zirin, and by extension The Nation, is upset because Casspi and Adelson’s venture might upset their efforts to enforce the BDS. However, when your entire goal is to weaken a people surrounded on all sides by enemies and their backs up against the water, you lose the right to get offended when they try to save themselves.