Football: Israeli footballer in custody

Sagiv Jehezkel is free and should be flown from Turkey to his homeland Israel on Monday evening. The fact that you even have to put this before the lines about a cheering footballer shows how short Turkish patience is when it comes to freedom of expression.

The 28-year-old defender moved to the Turkish first division club Antalyaspor in mid-September 2023. Three weeks later, he would probably have chosen another country, because on October 7, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, killing and taking hostages. Since then, the Turkish government has only condemned the Israeli shelling of Gaza, but not Hamas.

Jehezkel dared to remember the hostages while celebrating his goal on Sunday against Trabzonspor: “100 days”, the date October 7th. and a Star of David adorned a bandage on his wrist, which he held up to the cameras. A message of solidarity, he assured. However, the authorities recognized this as “incitement of the public to hatred and hostility” and arrested him. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc tweeted that Jehezkel supported the “Israeli massacre in Gaza.” The national player was released again after a few hours. But his club had already fired him because he had violated “the values ​​of our country.” Apparently they only include celebrating terror or keeping your mouth shut.

Although it was clear that his celebration would trigger protests, Jehezkel followed his conscience – and was imprisoned for it. He probably didn’t expect that Israel would have to fly him out afterwards. But footballers shouldn’t do that either, especially not if they’re celebrating a goal and campaigning for the release of hostages.

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