Israeli footballer fired in Turkey due to war in Gaza

A leading Turkish football club, Basaksehir, has fined and suspended an Israeli player over a social media post about hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. It is the second time this week that an Israeli player has been fired in Turkey for a message related to the war between Israel and Hamas.

The player, Eden Karzev, a 23-year-old midfielder, was briefly interrogated in Istanbul earlier this week after posting an Instagram story calling for the release of the hostages, the private Demiroren news agency reported. He marked the 100th day since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which Israeli officials say around 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken hostage. About 130 people remain detained in Gaza; some of them are believed to be dead.

The Basaksehir club said this in a statement that they had fined Mr Karzev and decided that his career should continue outside Turkey. It described Mr. Karzev's post as “contrary to the values ​​of Turkish society.”

The Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv announced that it had loaned Mr Karzev from Basaksehir until the end of the 2023-2024 season, with an option to make him permanent. In a videoMaccabi Tel Aviv welcomed Mr Karzev, who had previously played in the club's academy.

Mr Karzev becomes the second Israeli footballer to be returned to Israel this week due to the war between Israel and Hamas. Sagiv Jehezkel, a 28-year-old winger for top division club Antalyaspor, was also arrested and dismissed from his team. He displayed a message reading “100 days” next to a Star of David and the date of the Hamas attack after scoring in a match, causing an uproar on social media and disciplinary sanctions from his club.

Turkish society is generally sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, although support for Hamas is limited according to a recent poll. Yet since the start of the war, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has publicly expressed his support for Hamas, saying it is not a terrorist organization but a group of “mujahedeen” fighting to liberate their country, and he has expressed harsh criticism. of both Israel and the Western countries that support the war.