Youtube

Euro Cup fever is sweeping Israel. Fans are gathering at local restaurants and bars each night to watch the best soccer teams go head to head. Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admits he's a huge fan and that he's also watching the games. On Monday, Netanyahu was here on this field kicking the soccer ball around with Jewish and Arab kids who play together on a team to foster co-existence. He was filming a segment for a TV show on Israeli tourism. But the 62 year-old leader took a spill on the field and tore a tendon in his left leg. Netanyahu's aides focused on his persistence, saying the Prime Minister kept playing after the injury and scored a goal...

Hours later Netanyahu released this you tube video, which showed his left leg in a thick new cast. Doctors say he'll have to wear it for several weeks until the tendon heals. Explaining that he slipped during an informal soccer game, Netanyahu joked that it wasn't exactly like a Euro Cup match. He added that like so many Israelis, he's following the championship. We don't know which team the Prime Minister is rooting for, but the Israelis we talked to have a few favorites...

For diehard fans, it matters little that Israel is not part of the championship... But for other Israelis not enthralled with the what's called the beautiful game, the Euro cup championship has stirred controversy by evoking traumatic historical memories of the Holocaust. The matches are taking place in Poland and the Ukraine, in stadiums not far from some of the worst Nazi labor, transport and death camps where millions of Jews were murdered during World War II.

A group of Israeli students launched the Euro1945 website, facebook and twitter sites to teach young European soccer fans -- and remind others -- that horrifying crimes were committed by Hitler's henchmen not long ago. The location of the games has not been lost on some of the soccer teams participating in the euro cup championship. The English and Dutch teams who are staying in the Polish city ofKrakow paid a visit to the nearby Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp...some admitted they knew little about the dark chapter of history.

With racism against black and other non-white soccer players a persistent problem in the league, the Nazi death camp stands as a powerful symbol of why discrimination must be fought wherever it rears its ugly head.

Jordana Miller, JN1, Jerusalem.