Two Israeli footballers of Turkish club Antalyaspor announced that they will not play in the scheduled match this Saturday afternoon, after learning of the decision of Super League to save money a minute of silence through Palestinian victims of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“As national team players, we will not participate in this ceremony and we are not going to the stadium“Antalyaspor footballers Ramzi Safuri and Sagiv Jehezkel said in a statement.
They indicated that club leaders showed up understanding towards their decision not to participate in the meeting, which they also justify by difficult situation in Israel after the unprecedented terrorist attack carried out by the radical Islamist group Hamas on October 7.
Türkiye is now in it third day of national mourningauthorities declared for more than 3,000 Palestinian deaths caused by Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip.
After prayers yesterday, Friday, thousands of people again took to the streets of major Turkish cities in protest against Israel and it was decided to observe a minute’s silence before football games.
“The bad news from the country (Israel) “It makes it almost impossible for us to play football.”, Safuri and Jehezkel wrote in the note. “In addition, we learned that today’s game will be marked by a minute of silence to judge Israel”they added.
“The attitude towards us here (at the club). Really hot and we will continue to be among the builders of new bridges in the days to come,” the two players concluded.
Antalyaspor, occupying 13th place in the Turkish Super League after 8 rounds, will play its 9th match against Gaziantepspor this afternoon, at 4:00 pm local time.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
