Israeli soccer player Shagib Yehezkel has been released from detention in Turkey and is expected to return to the Jewish state on Monday following political and consular activities and “other factors,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
This comes after media reported that the footballer had been released and was about to be deported.
Yehezkel, 28, plays for Antalyaspor in Turkey. He was arrested after a small tribute to those kidnapped by the Israelis on the occasion of the 100-day Hamas massacre, which he presented at his team’s match: making the sign of a cross with his hands towards a camera and making visible the words he had written on his interior. su bracelet, “100 Days 7. 10” with a small Jewish Star of David.
Turkey Detains Israeli Soccer Star Who Scored a Goal for the Hostages
This was enough to infuriate the Turkish government, which immediately ordered its security guards to arrest the footballer and interrogate him. Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc announced Sunday afternoon via social media platform X that his ministry had opened an investigation against Yehezkel for “incitement to hatred and hostility” in reaction to “his horrific gesture of favoring the Israeli bloodbath in Gaza. “
The player was quoted by Turkish media as saying he “did not intend to provoke anyone” with the gesture.
Yehezkel’s club immediately suspended him and vowed to terminate his contract because he had “acted against the sensitivities of Antalya, Antalyaspor and our country. “Terminating the Israeli footballer’s contract will be a costly task: Israel’s Channel 12 estimated that the move could cost the team more than $1 million.
“Turkey has a dark dictatorship that opposes human and sporting values,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in reaction to the incident.
“Anyone who arrests a footballer for an act of identity with 136 kidnapped for more than one hundred days by the terrorists of a homicidal terrorist organization, represents a culture of homicide and hatred.
“I call on foreign networks and foreign sports organizations to take action against Turkey and its political use of violence and threats against athletes. Today it’s Shagib Yehezkel; Tomorrow it will be another athlete.
Printed from: https://www. jewishpress. com/news/middle-east/turkey/turkey-to-deport-israeli-soccer-player-after-gesture-of-support-for-hostages/2024/01/15 /