Athletes weigh in on Israel’s current conflict

Different extremes expressed on social media, with support for both blue-and-white and Palestinians

By JOSHUA HALICKMAN
Updated: MAY 14, 2021 08:23
Picture of Deni Avdija social media post (photo credit: Courtesy)
Picture of Deni Avdija social media post
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Israel has been through a very tough week.
With that, we have seen both the good and the not so good coming out of both athletes plying their trade in Israel as well as around the world.
The State of Israel is defending itself against terrorists who rule the Gaza Strip and have indiscriminately fired hundreds upon hundreds of rockets at densely populated areas from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, Ashkelon and Netanya, Herzliya and Kfar Saba.
Games and competitions across the country have been postponed and put on hold, including both the Israel State Cup soccer and basketball matches.
When Hamas sent the first salvo of missiles, an opening shot at Jerusalem on Monday, Hapoel Jerusalem guard Chris Kramer was the first to go to social media to express his feelings on Twitter, “It’s getting crazy out here.”
Over in Brooklyn, New York, Nets’ hoops star Kyrie Irving has been extremely vocal with a pair of posts on Instagram. The first was a post stating, “Israeli forces fire on Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Irving totally ignored the fact that inside the mosque the so-called “worshippers” have been collecting and hoarding rocks and stones getting ready to throw at Jews praying at the Western Wall and at the security forces.
Not to be outdone by his own bravado, Irving was busy again with a second post entitled, “Solidarity with Palestine - Live with a Palestinian Freedom Fighter” which was in essence a conversation with Linda Sarsour, a known antisemite and anti-Israel personality who wanted to spread how people can help their movement and aid them in their fight for freedom.
As the rockets continued to rain down on Israel’s south on Tuesday morning, Israelis playing abroad – including Shon Weissman, who is a striker at Real Valladolid in Spain – retweeted a Stand With US post in support of Israel and wrote “That’s the Truth!!”.
This was immediately followed by Israeli starlet Manor Solomon, who is playing in the Ukraine for Shakhtar Donetsk, posting on Instagram, “I Support Israel’s Right To Defend Itself.”
This post however was met with many disgusting antisemitic comments from Arsenal supporters, the club that has been rumored to want to sign Solomon.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” “Arsenal if you dare”, “Yuck, don’t want this guy anywhere near our club,” “Might as well sign terrorist players,” “Genuinely will never watch Arsenal again if they sign this freak,” “Not wanted at Arsenal stay in the Ukraine s——.”
Not exactly a warm welcome for a Jewish Israeli to say the least.
Next up was Israeli hoops sensation Deni Avdija, who went to Instagram to put up an “Israel Under Attack” post which was followed up later in the day once missiles began falling on Tel Aviv as well as his hometown of Herzliya with another post stating, “It’s getting ridiculous. My heart is with all the people of Israel and the IDF soldiers.”
Hapoel Tel Aviv big man Tyrique Jones put up a supportive post on Instagram from Stand With Us, “400+ Rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel.”
At almost the same time, Elijah Bryant – who was just released by Maccabi Tel Aviv in order to pursue an NBA opportunity – put up the identical post in support of the Holy Land.
As hundreds of rockets were sent to the center of the country by the Gaza terrorists, athletes were forced to run for cover into safe rooms or bomb shelters, where they posted videos of the “Iron Dome” in action or how they were waiting out the barrage until the all clear was given.
Former star women’s basketball player Nancy Lieberman, whose son TJ Cline plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv, immediately went to Twitter making sure he was doing fine.
“It’s never fun when your son is calling you from a bomb shelter,” Lieberman tweeted.
Tamir Ben Ami, a former soccer player and the current head of Bnei Yehuda’s youth department, was fortunate to get into his safe room with his entire family as his home in Rishon Lezion suffered a direct hit from one of the rockets. They thankfully made it out unscathed.
Hapoel Gilboa/Galil guard Joe Thomasson went to social media with a “Israel is under attack” post while also saying, “It’s real. Prayers up,” while Bnei Herzliya big man Elijah Thomas, who was up through the night with air raid sirens and explosions going off, commented, “Sleep is canceled at this point. Dam Dawg.”
Hapoel Holon’s center, Belgian Maxim De Zeeuw, expressed his feelings on Twitter as well, “Not gonna lie, that was scary! I hope y’all are safe.”
Maccabi Haifa striker Godsway Donio made the mistake of liking a post by Liverpool’s Sadio Mane stating “Free Palestine,” which led to fan uproar and led him to issue an apology.
“I clicked ‘like’ by accident and I wouldn’t do this on purpose to hurt anyone. I don’t support this and I love Israel and its people. Please forgive me.”
Stefanos Dedas, the head coach of Hapoel Holon who is arguably one of the most colorful personalities in Israeli basketball, went all over the web with the following, “In these moments, running to bomb shelters with my three little kids and the skies falling over our heads reminds me that basketball is just fun. Thanks to everyone from Greece and Israel that reached out to check on me and my family! We safe, TODA RABA, THANK YOU!”
However, the most stirring and uplifting comments came from Maccabi Tel Aviv star guard Scottie Wilibekin and his wife Maria in an interview with the Sports Channel.
“I don’t know if I’ll take a stand,” began Scottie. “But if I were to say anything on the matter, I’m with Israel. I’m here in the midst of everything, I’m experiencing it. It can be hard sometimes for another country to really know what's going on, but I can say from being here in this experience that I support Israel and we’re here with all the people from Israel and we’re in this together trying to survive it. I’m with Israel.”
Maria added, “I feel confident. As Christians we believe that we have a purpose here and we’re confident that God will watch over us and I think we’re in good hands here.


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