Released Monday following his police custody while awaiting his trial, Sagiv Jehezkel, a 28-year-old player from the Antalya club (South), was arrested Sunday evening after the match of the Turkish Süper Lig for wearing a wrist bandage reading “100 days. 07/10” – the date of the massacres committed by Palestinian Hamas in Israel and the start of the war in Gaza.
Another Israeli player in the Turkish championship, Eden Karzev, 23, also finds himself in trouble with his Istanbul club, Basaksehir, for having brandished a sign on Instagram on which was written in English: “100 – Bring them back to home NOW”.
“Turkey has become a dark dictatorship”
The Basaksehir club, known for its proximity to the Turkish presidency, announced the opening of a disciplinary investigation after this publication, says the NTV television channel. The Israeli Foreign Ministry reacted strongly to the arrest of Sagiv Jehezkel and assured that he would return home “today”.
“Turkey has become a dark dictatorship, which goes against human values and sporting values,” accused the head of Israeli diplomacy Israel Katz. “Whoever arrests a footballer for an act of identification with 136 people kidnapped, in the hands of a murderous terrorist organization for more than 100 days, represents a culture of murder and hatred,” he added.
Katz concludes by calling on “the international community and international sports organizations to take action against Turkey and its political use of violence and threats against athletes. Today it is Sagiv Yehezkel, tomorrow it will be another athlete ” he predicted.
Israel had called on its nationals to leave Turkey
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for his part, accused Turkey of “acting as the executive branch of Hamas”. It was not immediately known whether a trial in absentia of the player would take place. Three Israeli players are under contract with Turkish clubs: in addition to Sagiv Jehezkel and Eden Karzev, Ramzi Safouri – an Israeli Arab – also plays in Antalya.
Israel had called on its nationals to leave Turkey immediately after the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip because of the very strong sympathy for the Palestinian cause in that country. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly called Israel a “terrorist state.”
“I want the war to end”
Sagiv Jehezkel, arrested at the end of the match and excluded from his team, defended himself before the police from any provocation or any lack of respect, according to NTV. “I did nothing to provoke anyone. I am not for war. There are Israelis held hostage in Gaza,” he assured, according to this private television channel, who claims to have had access to the content of his interrogation by the police.
“I have never disrespected anyone since I was in Turkey. I want the war to stop. That’s why I showed this sign,” at the end of the match, he said. is it defended? Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunç announced on
The player’s short message, which refers to the hundred days that have passed since the bloody attack launched on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil, was in fact interpreted by Mr. Tunç as a testimony of support for Israeli military operations. carried out in retaliation in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, these left at least 23,968 dead, mainly civilians. The unprecedented October 7 attack perpetrated by Hamas on Israeli soil caused the death of around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, and 140 are still being held hostage in Gaza.