After scoring a goal in the Antalyaspor-Trabzonspor match played in the 20th week of the Super League, Israeli football player Sagiv Jehezkel showed the cameras the writing on his wrist supporting Israel’s attacks on Palestine. Following the reactions, the football player, who was first excluded from the squad by the club and detained at night, appeared before the prosecutor at the courthouse in the morning after his statement. The football player, who was released after his statement was taken, went to his country by private plane. Antalyaspor President Sinan Boztepe made a statement regarding the incident and subsequent developments.
Stating that there were undesirable events regarding Sagiv Jehezkel, Antalyaspor President Sinan Boztepe said, “An image published by our own media after the match was removed after we were made aware of it. On the same day, our player was immediately asked to defend himself, and we received his defense. We received a very quick reaction from my fellow managers. Unfortunately, “It was an undesirable event that we did not want to happen. He was a valuable player for us and a player who brought success to the team, but some of the statements we said that day were misunderstood. Our country has sensitivities. We all need to pay attention to these sensitivities,” he said.
Stating that Jehezkel’s action was his own action and that it was not possible for the club to accept it, Boztepe said, “We have now declared it legal. In the coming period, we will notify the whole public according to the results.”
“NO ONE IN THE CLUB KNEW ABOUT IT”
Noting that they were interested in all the details of what happened after Jehezkel was taken into custody, Sinan Boztepe continued his speech as follows:
“No matter what the ideological action was, he was a hard-working player of our team, of our city. We were interested in all the details, all the details. In fact, he had all our attention until he left the country. It was an action that absolutely none of his friends, anyone from the technical team, or anyone from the club management was aware of. “No one is aware of it. It’s an ideological act he did entirely of his own will.”
“LEGAL STUDIES RELATED TO THE CONTRACT CONTINUE”
Stating that the player was excluded from the squad and the situations regarding his contract are being investigated legally, Boztepe said, “FIFA, UEFA, our federation and we are in talks. There is no clear decision at the moment. It will be clear after the judicial process. I do not know exactly, but according to the information I received, he is also banned from entering the country.” “I know it is necessary. Or it will be banned,” he said.
“SAFURI, THE OTHER ISRAELI FOOTBALL PLAYER IN THE TEAM, IS HAPPY TO BE IN THE TEAM”
Giving information about Safuri, the other Israeli player in the team, Sinan Boztepe said, “The people of our country are really very compassionate and able to manage perception correctly. Our citizens or people no longer behave unconsciously as before. Safuri is already a Muslim of Palestinian origin. He is a player with an Israeli passport. “He is happy to be in this team. We are also happy to be with him. As Antalyaspor club, or more precisely as Turkish football clubs, we do not have any discrimination such as religion, language or race. We took a stand against an ideological and planned action. We stand behind our stance,” he said.
“WE TAKING AL-GHAZI MEANS IT IS AN IDEOLOGICAL INDICATOR”
President Boztepe also said the following about launching a campaign on social media to replace Sagiv Jehezkel with Dutch player Anwar El Ghazi, who was excluded from the squad in Mainz because he shared a post supporting Palestine, to join the squad:
“This is Antalyaspor, a completely above-political institution. As a management, we would never allow any political situation or position to be realized. Buying that player means an ideological indicator. Let’s showcase our football. We have a cup match ahead of us. We have an away match against Konya on Sunday. “Our concern is success, as we said on the first day. We do not show any ideological or political situation within our club.”