Robert Saleh’s Lebanon heritage behind firing? Muslim advocacy group demands answers from New York Jets
Now former New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh wore a Lebanon flag pin on his sleeve during the game on Sunday.
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Robert Saleh wore a Lebanon flag pin on his sleeve during the game on Sunday (Image via Imago/X)
In their week 5 game against the Minnesota Vikings, head coach Robert Saleh was busy figuring out what was wrong with his team’s stuttering offense. Fast forward to today, his first step to fixing that problem became the last decision he took as head coach.
On Tuesday, the New York Jets fired him as soon as he checked in to the premises. Now Muslim advocacy group CAIR points out to another probable cause that led to the firing.
The point that caught their eye was that Robert Saleh wore a Lebanon flag pin on his arm during the game on Sunday. CAIR released a statement pointing to that.
The report that Jets security physically escorted Saleh out of the building does raise concerns about the possible motive for such unusual hostility—especially given that Saleh wore a Lebanese flag pin at a game just days ago and that owner Woody Johnson is a former Trump administration official who has been accused of making racially charged remarks.
CAIR’s statement read
They asked the New York Jets to explain the hostile treatment it dealt out to their former head coach, as they feel it was unnecessary and unusual to do so.
?BREAKING: The Muslim advocacy group CAIR demands that the #Jets answer why Robert Saleh was fired & ‘physically removed’ after Saleh wore a Lebanon patch Sunday. pic.twitter.com/AWpZxLme3t
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) October 8, 2024
Robert Saleh‘s parents came from Lebanon. The country faced the brunt of the Israel-Iran skirmish when the Israelis hammered the middle eastern nation to inflict damage on Hezbollah commanders and assets. More than 500 people were killed in the attacks.
Saleh wore the flag pin to show his solidarity to his heritage. CAIR believes that show of solidarity led to his dismissal in a forceful manner. They believe it was borne out of the fact that Jets owner Woody Johnson is a Donald Trump supporter and has made racially charged remarks in the past.
Robert Saleh has shown solidarity with Lebanon before
Sunday was not the first time Robert Saleh wore the Lebanon flag pin on his sleeves. In October last year, he wore the same pin during a game. At that time, the 45-year-old did not make a politically charged stance. In fact, it had more to do with the NFL’s initiative to encourage players and staff to showcase their heritage.
It is not as if the Israel-Palestine war was not in effect at the time. But it started weeks before, ruling out the notion that he wore it in solidarity. Instead, many other players and staff joined him, proudly displaying their flag patches in various forms.
That time, it was the NFL’s initiative. But this time, as the situation proved, Saleh wore it for a different purpose. A purpose they feel has led to his dismissal. The New York Jets have managed to raise a lot of questions from this firing than any other head coach before.
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Joseph Varghese
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