JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Friday condemned as “shameful” the recent protests by soccer fans here of their team’s recent recruitment of two Muslim players, hours after the offices of the team were burned in what the police suspected was arson by some of those fans.

“We cannot accept such racist behavior,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “The Jewish people, who suffered excommunications and expulsions, need to represent a light unto the nations.”

The team, Beitar Jerusalem, has long been linked to Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud Party, and for 15 years has been notorious for racism and violence, including an episode last spring in which fans stormed a mall chanting “Death to Arabs” and beat up several Arab employees. Founded in 1936, it is the only one of Israel’s professional soccer teams never to have recruited an Arab player.

The current controversy concerns the team’s addition of two Muslim players from Chechnya. Although one is injured, the other is expected to play for the first time in a match on Sunday against a team from Sakhnin, an Arab-Israeli town.