Israeli footballers playing for top-flight clubs in Turkey have been charged with incitement for showing support for hostages held in Gaza on the 100th day of conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas.
Released on Monday after being held in police custody pending trial, Sagiv Jehezkel, a 28-year-old player for the southern club Antalya, was arrested on Sunday evening after the Süper Lig match for wearing a bandage on his wrist that read "100 days. 07/10" - marking the date of the massacres committed by Palestinian Hamas in Israel and the beginning of the war in Gaza.
Another Israeli player in the Turkish league, 23-year-old Eden Karzev, is also in trouble with his Istanbul club, Basaksehir, for brandishing a sign on Instagram that reads: "100 - Bring them home NOW."
The Basaksehir club, known for its closeness to the Turkish presidency, announced a disciplinary investigation against the player after the publication, according to NTV. For its part, the Israeli Foreign Ministry reacted strongly to Jehezkel's arrest and assured that he would return home "today".
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Turkey has become a dark dictatorship, which goes against human values and sporting values," Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz charged. "Whoever arrests a footballer for an act of identification with 136 abductees, at the hands of a terrorist organisation that has been murderous for more than 100 days, represents a culture of murder and hatred," he added. Mr. Katz concludes by calling on "the international community and international sports organizations to act against Turkey and its political use of violence and threats against athletes. Today it's Sagiv Yehezkel, tomorrow it's another athlete," he predicted.
The Israeli authorities had called on their nationals to leave Turkey immediately after the war in Gaza because of the very strong pro-Palestinian sentiment in the country. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly called Israel a "terrorist state."
Sagiv Jehezkel, who was arrested at the end of the match and expelled from his team, defended himself to the police from any provocation or disrespect, according to the NTV channel. "I didn't do anything to provoke anyone. I'm not pro-war. There are Israelis being held hostage in Gaza," he said, according to private broadcaster NTV, which said it had access to his police interrogation. "I have never disrespected anyone since I have been in Turkey. I want the war to stop. That's why I showed that sign," he said at the end of the match.
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunç announced on X that "the Antalya Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation for +public incitement to hatred+ due to its heinous celebration in favor of the massacre committed by Israel in Gaza."
The player's short message, a reference to the 7 days since the bloody attack launched on October <> by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil, was interpreted by the Turkish justice minister as a show of support for Israeli military operations launched in retaliation in the Gaza Strip.
According to Hamas' Health Ministry, Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 23,968 people, mostly civilians. The unprecedented attack launched by Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7 killed an estimated 1,140 people, mostly civilians, and 140 people are still being held hostage in Gaza.