Rarely has the celebration of a football goal led to so many consequences in a few hours. Scorer this Sunday in the Turkish Süper Lig during the Antalyaspor-Trabzonspor match (1-1), the Israeli footballer Sagiv Jehezkel decided to show on the screen a message on a bandage around his left wrist: “100 days, 07/10”. This inscription, referring to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and to the 100 days that have passed since the bloody attack launched on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil (1,140 dead according to an AFP count), immediately led to the exclusion of the 28-year-old player by his club Antalyaspor.
For the Turkish D1 club, the Israeli international (8 caps) “acted against the values of our country” with this celebration. Then Sagiv Jehezkel was, according to the official Turkish press agency Anadolu and the private channel NTV, arrested as part of an investigation for “public incitement to hatred”. “The Antalya public prosecutor’s office has opened a judicial investigation against Israeli footballer Sagiv Jehezkel for “public incitement to hatred” due to his odious celebration in favor of the massacre committed by Israel in Gaza”, announced this Sunday the Turkish Minister of Justice Yilmaz Tunç on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Turkish minister denounces “genocide” underway in Gaza
This short message posted by the professional player this Sunday is in fact interpreted by the Turkish Minister of Justice as a testimony of support for Israeli military operations launched in retaliation in the Gaza Strip. “We will continue to support the oppressed Palestinians,” writes Yilmaz Tunç, denouncing an ongoing “genocide” in Gaza.
Since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a traditional ally of the Palestinian cause, has repeatedly described Israel as a “terrorist state”. He believes that Hamas, considered a terrorist group by the European Union and many countries including the United States, is a “group of liberators”.