After being temporarily detained by authorities, Israeli soccer player Sagiv Jehezkel, who was suspended from top-tier Turkish team Antalyaspor for an on-pitch demonstration in support of hostages held in Gaza, is returning to Israel.
After Jehezkel, who had been detained by the police in Antalya, displayed his bandaged wrist on Sunday, with the words “100 days, 7/10” supporting Israeli hostages, Antalyaspor suspended him over the weekend.
The bandage alluded to the Israeli captives who had been detained in Gaza for a full century on Sunday after Hamas carried out a horrific attack on Israel on October 7.
After six days, the hostage-release agreement that Israel and Hamas had reached in late November saw the liberation of over 100 prisoners. Israel thinks that the bodies of 25 murdered captives and another 107 hostages are being held in Gaza.
Although the prosecutor’s office declared that its processes were finished, there is no sign that the player’s inquiry has been shelved.
Israel Katz, the foreign minister of Israel, said on Monday that Jehezkel is going back to his native nation.
According to Turkish official broadcaster TRT Haber, Antalyaspor Deputy Chairman Alkan Evren announced in a statement that a legal procedure is underway to end the 28-year-old Israeli football player’s contract.
In Sunday’s Antalyaspor vs. Trabzonspor match, Jehezkel (left) challenges Rayyan Baniya of Trabzonspor for the ball.
“I didn’t do anything to agitate anyone. Let the war cease, please. According to a leaked Turkish police report that was extensively quoted in Turkish media, Jehezel previously stated, “This is why I showed that sign.”
Jehezkel was “excluded from the squad by the decision of the board of directors,” according to Antalyaspor, which announced its decision to suspend him from the team on Sunday. The team also stated that Jehezkel had violated “national values.”
“Our Board of Directors will never allow behavior against the sensitivities of our country, even if it results in a championship or a cup,” the club said in an additional statement.
After Jehezkel scored in Antalyaspor’s 1-1 draw with Trabzonspor, Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç also claimed on X, the previous Twitter, that Jehezkel had committed a “ugly action supporting Israel’s massacre in #Gaza”.
Yehezkel, a right winger, has made 13 appearances for Antalyaspor this season, tallying two assists and six goals.
The writing on Yehezkel’s wrist was initially missed by Antalyaspor officials, who then shared a picture of him celebrating on the team’s social media pages. The post was later taken down, though.
“The instant post after his goal was shared on our club’s official social media accounts, and the issue was noticed immediately,” Antalyaspor President Sinan Boztepe stated in a statement on X.
It’s been taken out. I want everyone to know that, even if there is ultimate great success, I will not tolerate this kind of behavior while I am president.
In a game in September versus Belarus, Jehezkel plays as Israel’s representative.
Another Israeli player competing in the highest division of Turkish soccer, Eden Karzev, is the subject of a disciplinary investigation by Istanbul Basaksehir due to a social media post.
Karzev “violated the club’s disciplinary instructions by posting on his personal social media account that contradicts the sensitivities of our country,” according to Basaksehir, who made the announcement on X on Monday.
The precise post in question was not mentioned by the club. The 23-year-old re-posted an image from another account commemorating 100 days after Hamas abducted captives, along with the hashtag #BringThemHomeNow, according to Turkish official TV TRT Haber.
A soccer player has been involved in controversy about the Israel-Gaza conflict before.
Youcef Atal, an Algerian who plays for the French club OGC Nice, was given a suspended sentence and a €45,000 ($49,000) punishment earlier this month after the conflict was re-posted on social media.
A Palestinian preacher prayed for God to cast “a black day over the Jews” in a 35-second video that Atal reposted, according to Reuters, which cited the French newspaper Nice-Matin.
diplomatic ties between Israel and Turkey
In 1949, a year after Israel was founded, Turkey became the first Muslim country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. Wide-ranging collaboration has been observed in the two states’ ties, particularly in commerce, which, according to Turkish media, reached $8.91 billion in 2022.
However, Ankara and Israel have frequently had rifts due to the Palestinian issue.
The current president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, once sparred angrily with then-Israeli President Shimon Peres about violence in Gaza in 2009 during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, remarking, “When it comes to killing, you know killing very well.”
Before October 7, relations between Turkey and Israel were improving. Erdogan first had a face-to-face meeting with President Isaac Herzog in 2022, and in September, he had his first in-person meeting with Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly. After Israel’s slaughter in Gaza and the Hamas attack, the temporary thaw in relations swiftly broke down.
Irit Lillian, the Israeli ambassador to Ankara, and other Israeli diplomats departed Turkey less than two weeks into the battle, according to Turkish media.
Senior research fellow Gallia Lindenstrauss of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv stated that public opinion probably plays a part in the current state of affairs and that Turkey’s harsh criticism of Israel is highly popular both at home and in Muslim nations.
In another diplomatic scuffle, Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador in 2010 following Israel’s attack on a boat carrying humanitarian supplies and sailing toward Gaza in international waters.
Following an eventual apology from Israel for the attack that claimed nine lives, relations were reestablished in 2016. However, this only lasted for two years, as in 2018 both nations summoned their ambassadors back after Israeli forces killed sixty protesters at the Gaza border who were opposing the controversial move of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“The public and opposition have pushed for an even harsher stance against Israel than the government is currently taking,” Lindenstrauss told CNN, stating that “Turkish public opinion on the matter is important.” “Clearly, Erdogan doesn’t need to put in a lot of effort to persuade the public to back the Palestinian cause.”
Lindenstrauss continued, “A clear indication that Turkey and the Turkish public have very little understanding of Israel’s interpretation of the events that unfolded on October 7” is the misinterpretation and misrepresentation of Jehezkel’s gesture.
