Noussair Mazraoui completed an individual training session on Säbener Straße on Thursday. The day before, the club had called the player in for an interview about his Palestine posts.
When the FC Bayern players gathered for team training on Säbener Straße on Thursday morning, one player was initially missing. Noussair Mazraoui did not take part in the preparation for the Bundesliga game against 1. FSV Mainz 05. A little later, however, the right-back did appear: he completed an individual running session together with the club’s physiotherapist.
Solidarity with the Palestinians or with Hamas?
On Wednesday evening, the 25-year-old Moroccan international arrived at the club’s headquarters for a conversation. Mazraoui spoke to club officials about his posts on the social media platform Instagram. The Moroccan international shared a short video there on Saturday evening in which a voice says in the style of a prayer: “God, help our oppressed brothers in Palestine so that they achieve victory. May God give mercy to the dead, may God heal their wounded .” Under the post, Mazraoui wrote: Amen.
In connection with Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel, the tweet was understood as taking sides with the Islamists in the Gaza Strip: Mazraoui wanted Hamas to win against Israel. Mazraoui then said in a statement that was available to the dpa: “The point is that I strive for peace and justice in this world. That means that I will always be against all kinds of terrorism, hatred and violence.” However, according to media reports, Mazraoui also shared a post from an account that called for Israel’s extinction. This makes the defense attorney’s explanation seem less credible.
Mazraoui was already missing from the squad National team
It is not yet known whether the individual training is a consequence of the conversation with those responsible at FC Bayern. Mazraoui, who was recently on international duty with the Moroccan national team, was not in the squad for his team’s game against Liberia. No information was given as to the reasons. An injury that prevents Mazraoui from training cannot be ruled out either.
Central Council of Jews criticizes Mazraoui
The question of how FC Bayern now deals with its player has long since left sporting dimensions. The Central Council of Jews considers the footballer’s clarification of his contribution to be insufficienthowever, praised FC Bayern Munich for its actions in the case.
“The post by the player Noussair Mazraoui is an unspeakable derailment,” wrote the association in a statement for the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. It was noted that the Moroccan national soccer player subsequently distanced himself from any terrorist organizations. “Unfortunately, Mazraoui continues to fail to clearly condemn Hamas’ barbarism,” the Central Council said.
Politics puts pressure on FC Bayern
And there were also numerous requests from politicians to speak out, which put additional pressure on FC Bayern and gave the case a much larger dimension than even FC Bayern is used to. Politicians, especially from the Union, indicated calls for a suspension and sometimes suggested expelling the footballer.
The CSU state parliament member Ludwig Spaenle wrote in a guest article in “Focus”: “The question of continued employment is up for debate. On the other hand, for the specific case, but also for comparable occasions, the question of employment and residence law arises Consequences.”
Also Joachim Herrmann, Bavarian State Minister of the Interior, Sport and Integration, said in the BR program “Münchner Runde”: “As an internationally important club, FC Bayern has a special responsibility and a role model role. That’s why FC Bayern itself has to make sure that this is sorted out.”
FSV Mainz 05 dismisses El Ghazi
According to labor lawyer Dr. Philipp Wiesenecker within the legal framework. In an interview with BR24Sport, he also made it clear that employers must act in the event of a “disruption of the company peace”: “If I have a goalkeeper from Israel on the team, then the company peace can be recognized by a statement critical of Israel in the current situation at risk,” explains the lawyer. Daniel Peretz, Bayern’s Israeli goalkeeper, may now have disrupted this industrial peace. The goalkeeper already commented on the Hamas attack on social media.
At other football clubs there have already been consequences for footballers who shared on social media about the war in the Middle East. So had Bundesliga team Mainz 05 responded to its player Anwar El Ghazi’s now-deleted anti-Israel post and released the 28-year-old. The Dutch son of Moroccan parents, who only moved to Mainz as a free transfer player in September, shared the saying “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” on Instagram on Sunday evening.
The slogan, which is often used by the terrorist organization Hamas, calls for the creation of a state from the Jordan to the Mediterranean – i.e. instead of the state of Israel. The post was later deleted, and by Monday he also had a profile picture with the words “I stand with Palestine.”
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Source: BR24Sport October 18, 2023 – 6:30 p.m
