The Israel-Sweden Davis Cup tennis match that took place March 8 was probably not the most watched of all time. The most anticipated match of the tournament was probably the one in which world No. 1 Rafael Nadal faced world No. 3 Novak Djokovic.

The Israel-Sweden match didn’t have the best players. In fact, its highest-ranked player was Dudi Sela, the world No. 63, who has yet to win an ATP title. And yet, despite this, Israel’s victory was one of the greatest triumphs of the tournament and could teach all Jewish students a lesson.  

Within the past few weeks, both Shahar Peer, the top-ranked Israeli woman, and the Israeli Davis Cup team have been singled out because they’re from Israel. Peer wasn’t allowed to play in a tournament in Dubai after the United Arab Emirates would not grant her a visa due to “safety concerns.” A week later, the UAE only begrudgingly granted Israeli Andy Ram a visa to play after the ATP threatened to punish the tournament for Peer not having been granted a visa to enter the country.

Peer could only watch from Israel as her peers played in the lucrative Dubai tournament. Yet despite this, she maintained her dignity and only expressed her regret that the UAE mixed sports and politics and could not put differences aside for the sake of the sport.  

Shortly thereafter, the Swedish city of Malmo announced that because of fears for the Israeli team’s safety, fans would not be allowed to watch the Israel-Sweden Davis Cup match. Due to the heavy Muslim population in Malmo, the city council feared that there would be riots. On March 8, the Israeli team faced the Swedish team without any fans in the arena, while violent demonstrations took place outside.

Few people believe that Sweden could not actually guarantee the safety of the Israeli tennis players. The arena that the matches were played in, Baltic Hall, only holds 4,077 people, which is hardly a large audience for a major tennis event. Even if this ludicrous claim was true, the event could have been moved to a different area in Sweden with a smaller Muslim population. Instead, it’s more likely that whoever was in charge of this event wanted Israel to look bad, with the streets full of demonstrators and an embarrassed Israeli team forced to play in an empty arena.

No doubt the Israeli team felt unwanted. It can’t be comfortable to play in such an environment. And yet, in a thrilling five-set match, Harel Levy prevailed over Andreas Vinciguerra shortly after Dudi Sela beat Thomas Johansson, the former Australian Open champion.

The Israelis beat Sweden 3-2 and showed the world that they would not be scared by a violent crowd and allow themselves to be defeated, even if they were unwanted. What was meant to make the Israeli team look bad ended up being to Sweden’s disadvantage, as they had no fans to cheer them on in the final few sets.

The Israeli team didn’t allow the intimidation to make them feel uncomfortable. They were proud of their country and chose not to walk away.

March 1 to 8 was Israeli Apartheid Week on many university campuses. Jewish students everywhere undoubtedly felt uncomfortable. Many times they were intimidated for no other reason than the fact that they were Jewish. At York University a few weeks ago, students were forced to lock themselves in the Hillel offices as a crowd surrounded them and made them feel threatened and unwanted.

We should learn a lesson from Israel’s tennis team. Keep your dignity and play the game, even if others want you to fail. In the end, the better group will prevail.

Joseph Juda is co-president of the Jewish Law Students’ Association at  Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto.