Soccer, politics and British Arabs

Arsenal football club, the third of England's big three football (read: soccer) teams has historically been the team of England's Jews and ex-pat Israelis. Arsenal currently plays its matches at the small (sub-40,000) and outdated stadium Highbury. A new Highbury, aka Emirates Stadium, will open this summer. Naming rights went to Air Emirates, the official airline of the United Arab Emirates (which formerly was the jersey-front advertiser for Arsenal's crosstown rival, Chelsea).

The Arsenal supporters filling Highbury (and Emirates Stadium) will include many Jews and Jewish-Israeli expats. They are the target audience for Arsenal's in-stadium ads, which will include promoting Israel as a tourist destination:

In a deal worth $600,000, Israel will be promoted on electronic billboards, on banner advertisements on the Arsenal website, and in the club magazine. The Jewish state will be hailed as Arsenal's "official and exclusive travel destination."

Or maybe not. The UAE owns Emirates, and didn't like the deal. Read Carol Gould's article (linked above) for more.