Mirna Al Saih of Bethlehem, who also holds an Israeli passport, talks about her team's support for her in the face of racist fans, and why she turned down the Palestinian national team
Women’s basketball is having a renaissance of sorts in Israel’s Arab community. Mariam Hannoun, a former resident of Lebanon and Shahd Abboud, a Christian from Shfaram, played for the Israeli national team. Noor Kayuf, a Druze player from Isfiya, donned the national team uniform for the first time last month, while Alis Hatokay, a Circassian from Kafr Kama, joined the Premier League this season.
But last week, Mirna Al Saih made history. The 21-year-old, who has lived most of her life in Bethlehem, has become the first resident of the Palestinian Territories to play in the Israeli Female Basketball Premiere League, the highest professional tier of the sport.
'When I joined the squad, I didn’t know if I’d really play. Surprisingly, a day before the game, the coach told me, 'Mirna, you’re playing tomorrow.''
While her father hails from the West Bank city, Al Saih’s mother is from Nazareth, which garnered the young athlete an Israeli passport. She is currently a fourth-year accounting student at Bethlehem University. “It’s not easy to combine school with basketball,” she says. “I finish the school day, go to practice and then study on my own at night. I don’t get paid for what I do, and I have to maintain my career at the same time.”
Al Saih’s father runs the community center in her hometown; she and her sister played basketball for the first time in its gym. “In Bethlehem the level of play wasn’t very high. All the women would play together in the same age group, and the coach wasn’t very professional. To bridge the gap, I’d play with a good guy friend from the neighborhood, and that improved my game a lot. From a young age, I knew that I wanted to play professionally.”
When she moved to Nazareth, she found peers with more advanced skills. At the same time, “even when I joined a new team I was still the most prominent player. My name became a thing within the team, and for the first time, I realized that I could go further. In the 12th grade, I knew that I wanted to go to college in the United States to study and play basketball, but my parents didn’t support it. My sister and I are their only kids, and they preferred that we go to school nearby.”
Two years ago, Al Saih played in the three-team Palestinian league, and at just 19 was crowned the season’s MVP. The academy she played for posted a video of her highlights, and a Spanish agent who came across it offered to bring her to Spain, but her parents thought she was too young to go play abroad. The same agent brought the video to the attention of Israeli-American agent Eric Keidar, who matched her with ASA Jerusalem.
'On the day of the game, there was a post about me being the first Palestinian player in the Israeli league, and someone wrote racist comments on social media. I told the coach that something was happening. The truth is that I was a little scared.'
“When I started playing for ASA, the team was still in the second division, and the coach [Itay Nativ] only spoke Hebrew. I didn’t understand anything. There were teammates who would help me translate it to English, but it wasn’t always enough. I asked myself if this is even right for me, and if I’m doing the right thing,” Al Saih recalls, but stresses that she never gave up. “I stayed on the team. But then when we were promoted to the Premier League, the new coach [Ohad Gal] began bringing in players from outside, and my spot was taken by more experienced players. I didn’t really get a chance to play. But I kept training independently, and sometimes I made it to ASA practices. The practices switched to English, and when the coach spoke to everyone in English, I realized that I would have an easier time fitting in.”
She weathered a period of uncertainty. “Early in the season, I was sure I wouldn’t play anymore. The coach would also tell me, ‘Maybe you’ll start playing in a month or two.’ But the months passed and I didn’t even make the squad. I even thought of taking a step back,” she says.
And then came a twist: “About two weeks ago, I was at a restaurant in Bethlehem with my whole family, and got a message that changed everything. The coach asked me to take medical tests to see if I’m fit to play in the Premier League. When I came to practice as a player, the girls helped me a lot, especially Mor Shabtai, who has been playing in the Premier League for years. She improved my game and gave me great advice that helped me improve and understand how to carry myself on a Premier League team. There’s a different kind of discipline with a very focused preparation for the game, something I didn’t experience in Bethlehem. To me, it’s a different world.”
She takes a bus from Bethlehem to practice at the Cosell Center in Givat Ram. “I have to cross the checkpoint on foot, and then take the bus on the other side of the checkpoint after the security check. I have an Israeli ID card and passport, so I get through the checkpoint even on ‘volatile’ days. My mother always picks me up from practice. My parents come to games and my sister is also very supportive.”
Late last month, two weeks after officially joining the team, Al Saih officially received the news. “When I joined the squad, I didn’t know if I’d really play. Surprisingly, a day before the game, the coach told me, ‘Mirna, you’re playing tomorrow.’” At ASA’s game against league champions Elitzur Ramla she received four minutes, missing one three-point shot and committing one foul.
To her regret, her debut will be remembered more for off-court incidents. “On the day of the game, there was a post about me being the first Palestinian player in the Israeli league, and someone wrote racist comments on social media. I told the coach that something was happening. The truth is that I was a little scared, and I told my parents and family. They were a little scared for me, but I showed up for the game anyway,” Al Saih recalls.
“The coach encouraged me, and then came the game. All the players’ names were introduced, and the moment they came to my name, people called out racist things, and I began to cry. But the players and the coach encouraged and hugged me, and also condemned the bad words thrown at me. The other team’s coach [Shira Ha’elyon] did the same. I didn’t want to cry, and really tried to pull myself together.”
That experience has left her nervous about her coming games. “There were only two girls who cursed at me, but if I’m getting cursed out from the very first game, what will happen next? Thinking about this scares me, because who knows what someone could do to me. On the other hand, it’s very comforting that so many people are on my side. I got a lot of supportive messages after the game from all sorts of players – from my team and from others. In our coming game, girls from our team’s youth club will come to support us, Arab and Jewish alike. I believe that even if there are bad voices, they’ll be drowned out by their cheers.”
In the past, Al Saih declined an invitation to the Palestinian national team. “They asked me to give up my Israeli passport. That’s not something I can do. That’s something no one would do, because the reality for Palestinians is very difficult. The national team also doesn’t get any great achievements. In the end, the players are unprofessional, they lose most of their games and call-ups happen less than a week before games. It’s hard for me to work like that.”
Al Saih’s career is just beginning, and it is too early yet to predict whether her skills will develop enough for her to be called up for Israel’s national team. Even if that happens, she is unsure whether she would accept the invitation. “I can play for the Israeli team, but I don’t know if I’ll really do it. My situation is complicated, it’s not like that of people who live here. I’m looked at differently, like I changed my skin,” she says candidly.
“I dream of playing for teams in Europe. For that I need to professionalize, and that’s easier in the team I’m in now. Next year I’ll probably continue on to a master’s degree and continue to develop academically. I hope that someday, basketball will allow me to make enough so that I don’t have to think of a second career.”