Op-ed: Sorry Palestine... Politics and Sports Are Now Mixing for Ukraine

Arabs have interacted with the recent statements of the Egyptian squash player, ranked second in the world, Ali Farag who criticized "the duplicity of dealing with crises in the world," declaring his solidarity with "Palestine", which he said "is going through what Ukraine went through 74 years ago."

"Before we were not allowed to mix politics with sports, but suddenly it is now allowed, and as long as it is allowed, people may look at the oppression that is happening everywhere in the world," said Farag.

He added, "The Palestinian people have been suffering from problems for 74 years because of the war as well. As long as we can talk now about the Ukrainians, then we can talk about the Palestinians as well. So please keep this in mind… Thank you very much."

Farag's statements came after winning the Optasia Championship in the British capital, London, after winning the final match against Peruvian player Diego Elias, according to the BBC.

World Celebrates Sympathizers with Ukraine, Not Gaza

Ukrainian player Ruslan Malinovskyi, a professional with the Italian club Atlanta, prepared well for the match against Olympiacos of Greece in the second leg of the European Football League play-off. Good preparation was not limited to mental and physical preparation for the match, as the Ukrainian player was carrying a second shirt with the words “No to war on Ukraine” written on it, his country being subjected to an expanded Russian military operation.

Malinovskyi was not afraid of the consequences of lifting the shirt and his colleagues were not afraid of the consequences of showing their solidarity with their colleague. He opened the door for many manifestations of solidarity with Ukraine in European stadiums, in the English city of Manchester.

Manchester City players put on shirts having the message “No to War” while Everton players wrapped the Ukrainian flags around their shoulders amid a state of great celebration from the media for these manifestations of solidarity.

The messages of solidarity with Ukraine were not followed by any talk of sanctions or investigation, but were celebrated in the Western media and considered a message of peace.

UEFA's Double Criteria 

Six years ago, not far from England, specifically in the match between the Scottish club Celtic and Hapoel Be'er Sheva, the fans of the Scottish club raised the flags of Palestine, but the reaction here was different.

But the reaction here differed, as the European Football Association UEFA opened an investigation into the behavior of the Scottish public and considered raising the flags of Palestine in the face of the Hebrew team’s players as a violation of the union’s regulations that ensure the separation between politics and sports.

CAF's Double Criteria 

In 2008, the CAF warned the retired Egyptian Mohamed Abou Trika after he lifted a shirt that read “sympathy with Gaza” in a match that brought his country together with Sudan in the African Nations Cup. Gaza at the time was subjected to violent bombardment, leaving hundreds dead and wounded.

At the time, Beninese referee Kofi Kodja issued the yellow card to Abou Trika because of this behavior, and CAF officials said they had warned him for allegedly violating the rules that stipulate that political slogans should not be displayed during matches. All positions were received by the continental federations very firmly, in order to implement the FIFA regulations, "No to mixing sports with politics" as a rule that football officials always seek to consolidate.

Although FIFA issued the list of disciplinary measures that contain Article 16, it decided to ban the Russian national team from all international competitions, which excludes it from the qualifiers for the World Cup 2022.

The Russian-Ukrainian crisis disclosed how the West is hypocritical. Most of the European countries, most notably the UK and France, slammed Moscow for launching a military operation in Ukraine. The Europeans hurried to condemn and slam the ‘Russian aggression’ against ‘White people.”

On the other side of the world, the Israeli army keeps killing and harassing innocents in the occupied Palestinian territory.

https://see.news/palestine-vs-ukraine-europes-hypocrisy-uncovered/