Israeli Soccer Player Prosecuted In Turkey For Making Gesture Supporting Gaza Hostages

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Sagiv Yehezkel, an Israeli soccer player for Turkish club Antalyaspor, scored a goal Sunday night and made a gesture dedicating it to the Israeli hostages in Gaza. The player was wearing an armband with the caption “100 days- 7.10” and a picture of a Magen David, and he pointed to it after scoring.

The dedication led to the Turkish Minister of Justice announcing his prosecution. The player was detained for questioning in Antalya.

Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced that the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Antalya had opened the legal investigation against Yehezkel for “public incitement of the public to hatred and hostility” – and “his support for the massacre carried out by Israel in Gaza,” according to Turkish reports.

The player was later released from his Antalyaspor contract and the team following the incident, he announced.

“All in all, I decided to make a humanitarian gesture to the Israeli hostages in Gaza. It was important for me to point out that they have been in captivity for 100 days. I had no intention of making a provocation or expressing a position in this regard, I know the sensitivity in Turkey,” Israeli media reported Yechezkel as stating afterwards.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett attacked the Turkish authorities, stating in a tweet that: “This is Turkey 2024. Shame on you, Turkish government.”

Over the weekend, the chairman of the legal committee of the Turkish parliament held a press conference on the steps of the court hall in The Hague, where Israel is defending itself against charges of genocide brought by South Africa, and attacked Israel. He claimed he was certain that the “heaviest punishments” would be imposed on Israel. The chairman was expelled shortly afterwards from the location by local court officials, claiming that he could not make any public statement there.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in preparation for the hearings in The Hague, also handed over materials accusing Israel of genocide and said that he believed Israel will be convicted.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz attacked him in response, writing that: “The president of Turkey, the country that committed the Armenian genocide and thought that the world would shut up, is ‘proud’ today that he handed over to The Hague tribunal materials that accuse Israel of genocide. We have not forgotten the Armenian holocaust and the massacres of the Kurds. You are the destroyers of the people. We are protecting ourselves from your barbarian friends.”