Kenny Saif's career is full of events and stories, from his arrival in Israel at the age of 3, choosing to represent the U.S. national team because of coffee reading, to the war in Israel and his opinion on Ataa Jaber, in an interview with The Athletic he talks about everything and says: "I'm proud to be Israeli."
"For my parents, it was a special moment, to see their son represent the country they thought was the reason for his existence." Jaber says of the decision to represent the United States: "They couldn't get pregnant in Israel, they consulted a Druze religious leader who was looking for fortunes at the bottom of a cup of coffee."
"There's a traditional way where you finish your coffee, turn it over and wait for it to dry, and then you look at the cup and you can see a few things. There are guys who can read the same things and explain to you about your life. I know from my mom and dad that they tried to have a child for five years, but the call said they had to fly to America. They flew and I was born."
Fencing in a US uniform "An emotional moment for my parents", photo: from Twitter
"I grew up with a father who loved soccer and in a neighborhood where it's all about soccer," says Saif: "You finish school and go play soccer. You think and talk about it all day. I didn't really have a specific team, but I loved watching the big clubs with the big players."
Later, Saif was asked about the difficulty of being an Israeli abroad these days: "The truth is, it's a difficult time. I know many people who are involved in defending us in the IDF, and this is a moment when we need to stand together. I hope that the abductees will be able to return to their families and we will finish the story quickly."
"People need to understand that a terrorist organization attacked us, our families, our friends," Seif continued, attacking Hamas: "It feels like we are the only country that has to explain itself when defending itself. What Hamas has done is inhumane, and what we need to say now is to call Palestine free – from Hamas."
It's hard to interview an Israeli player without referring to the affair of Ataa Jaber, who worked with a dressing room fencer in the past: "The dressing room is a place where I try to focus only on football. I don't want to talk about politics there. Everyone has their own decision and I have mine. I'm proud to be Israeli more than ever."
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Fencing." Hamas is inhumane," photo: from Twitter
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