Following this story, I have recieved a response from Chelsea. It said simply:
Thank you for taking the time to write to the club. I wanted to wait until Mohamed was with the club before responding. I would like to alert you to some quotes from the player on this topic. His words were published on our website today.
Mohamed said: ‘There have been incorrect stories about me, I am a footballer – I do not do politics. I respect everybody, it doesn’t matter where they come from. I do not have a problem with anybody. And I will not speak about this again.’And here is my follow-up response:
I appreciate your response, but it really is a strange statement from Mohamed. He needs to be much more specific about the 'incorrect stories'. He is surely not claiming that the video evidence of him avoiding hand-shakes on four separate occasions (before and after each of the Basel v Maccabi TA ties) is somehow fabricated? And what about the extensively documented statement "I am going to play in Palestine and not Israel and I am also going to score and win there. The Zionist flag won’t be shown in the Champions League." Are the many dozens of news agencies who attribute that quote to him all wrong?
Surely the best way to resolve this situation is to do what I suggested in my original email. That would be a win-win would it not? At the very least, how about a very explicit statement like the following: "I realise that my actions and some comments attributed to me in connection with the Basel v Macabbi TA matches could be considered offensive and disrespectful to Israeli players and Jews generally. I apologize for any offence I may have caused and can assure all supporters that I would be very happy to play in Israel for Chelsea and to respect the normal standards of sportsmanship such as shaking hands with all players."Since Mohamed Salah's statement said he 'will not speak about this again' I'm not hopeful that the suggestions in my follow-up letter will be considered. And if they are not it would be very reasonable to conclude that Chelsea have signed a bone fide antisemite. Let's wait and see.
4 comments:
Thank you!
If you applied as much pressure to the corrupt British politicians as you have done to Chelsea/a Muslim player, there will be more equality in Britain today. P.s. Salah's stance is anti zionist, not 'anti semitic' as being an Arab, he is a semite himself, so enough with the victim mentality. Being anti zionist is not racist either. In fact zionism is illegal under international law. That is the very reason for the conflict in that part of the world.
Salah was wrong in a way. Nobody should be begrudged where they are born, so to not shake hands was wrong, unless he was aware of each of the players' political ideologies. I don't believe in countries at all- they're all just blocks of land with governments. For you to make a correlation between Israel and Jewish people is wrong. Many people find the senselessness of Zionism (or all nationalism for that matter), and the Israeli government's appaling treatment of Palestinians, to be wrong. Criticising Israel is not the same as criticising Jewish people. Drop the victim complex and learn some respect.
Of course Im going to identify myself as anonymous. Palestinian terrorists are supported by Iran, Iran has sworn the destruction of Israel and the death of all Jews whether Zionist or not. There can be no deal between the Palestinians and Israel unless the Palestinians reject the state terrorism of Iran. Israel is the great ally of The UK and United States, I dont normally pick sides in the middle east conflict but when I do I stand with Israel. I am a long time supporter of LFC and Salah is now our 'hero' I consider Salah to be a humanitarian and a good man who has allowed politics to sour his relationship with the great game. The Jewish footballers were happy to shake his hand but he felt it necessary to make a political statement. If a rational and peaceful muslim wants to make a political statement why cant it include the full rejection of International terrorism? For Salah symbolism is more important than making a real effort to make a contribution to peace in the middle east.
Post a Comment