‘I stand for humanity and the oppressed’ – Anwar El Ghazi clarifies his position on Israel-Palestine issue a day after Mainz lift suspension

Anwar El Ghazi has rejoined training and is available for selection.

‘I stand for humanity and the oppressed’ – Anwar El Ghazi clarifies his position on Israel-Palestine issue a day after Mainz lift suspension

Anwar El Ghazi (Source: via Sky Sports and Twitter/@elghazi1995)

Upon returning from suspension handed to the player by his current club, Mainz 05, Anwar El Ghazi made a post on ‘X’ regarding his stance on the current Israel-Palestine issue. The player made it clear that he holds no ‘regret or remorse’ for the position he holds and the post made by him on the 27th of October was the only and final statement that had been made by him.

On October 17th, Anwar El Ghazi was suspended from matchday duties as well as training by his current club, Mainz, for a now-deleted Instagram post in which the player had aligned himself with a position that was, “Deemed unacceptable by the club.” Since the end of his suspension, the player made a post on ‘X’ where he clarified his position on the conflict which began:

I condemn the killing of all innocent civilians in Palestine and Israel.
YouTube video

Since then the player made another post on the 1st of November further reiterating his stance on the conflict. Mentioning several beliefs he holds and is against, the player questioned:

FS Video
How can we as a world remain silent when one child is being killed every 10 minutes in Gaza?

The player has urged people to raise their voices against the ‘unjust’ killings occurring in Gaza currently, explaining how the world cannot consciously ignore and remain silent on the growing number of deaths in the nation. 

Remaining ardent on his views, Anwar El Ghazi’s post was met with several positive reactions on ‘X’ with many users applauding the player’s point of view.

With Anwar El Ghazi’s return, is it better to remain neutral as a football player?

Since the attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist militant group, Hamas, a range of football players have shown their support for the nation. However, many of those names chose to remain silent when reports were made regarding the attacks on Gaza. Those who made their voices heard were punished.

Celtic fans
Celtic fans showing support for Palestine against the board’s orders (Source: via Twitter/@aida_celtic)

Recently, Leicester City’s Hamza Choudhury came under huge scrutiny for sharing an image of the Palestine flag with the caption, “From river to sea”. The player currently awaits further action taken by the FA. Players who showed support for Israel were not punished by the FA but rather had to face the wrath of ‘X’ users. Oleksandr Zinchenko – when he showed his support for Israel – had to delete his Instagram story due to the amount of abuse he was receiving on Instagram with many deeming him a hypocrite when asking for support for Ukraine against Russia.

The conflict has caused several other players and teams to remain quiet on the issue as taking either side is met with immediate backlash from either the fans or football governing bodies. It seems for now, “Keep politics out of football,” is the slogan to follow for the vast majority.

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