“With his actions he acted against the national values of our country. Our administration will never allow such behavior.” With these words the Turkish football team Antalyaspor defends its decision to exclude the Israeli footballer Sagiv Jehezkel from its selection and to suspend him indefinitely. The club president also promised that he will terminate Jehezkel’s contract.
These sanctions follow the events that occurred last night. After Jehezkel scored the equalizer during a match against Turkish team Trabzonspor, he created a heart with his hands and showed off the bandage on his wrist. It contained a short text, “100 days, 7:10”, next to an Israeli Star of David. In this way he expresses his support for the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas surprise attack on October 7, 100 days ago.
Not only did his club take the incident seriously, but the Turkish state also did not appreciate the gesture. Jehezkel was arrested on Sunday evening in Antalya and had to spend the night in prison.
In the meantime, Jehezkel has been released again, awaiting trial. In an initial response, the footballer specified that he “had done nothing to provoke, or anything at all”. “I certainly don’t support war, but the Israelis are still held in Gaza.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has already announced that Jehezkel will likely return to his homeland today.
2024-01-15 15:58:00
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