According to Thomas Portes, welcoming the Israel team, which represents a state engaged in
“an ongoing genocide in Gaza”
amounts to legitimizing abuses and trivializing a major humanitarian crisis.
“Sport is not neutral”,
he said, emphasizing that political decisions are sometimes necessary to respond to such situations. It calls for awareness and a decision
to prevent France from being complicit, through its silence, in the violence perpetrated against the Palestinian people.
Institutional silence and shared responsibility
Responding to statements from the French Football Federation (FFF), which attributes responsibility for holding the match to UEFA, Thomas Portes denounced a generalized attitude of clearance. He recalled that, despite the centralization of decisions at the international level, levers exist at different levels to act.
The Palestinian Sports Federation has, for example, called for Israel to be suspended from international competitions, a measure that could be taken by FIFA.
“Yet everyone looks the other way, while the Palestinian people are massacred”
he lamented.
The MP also challenged the French Government and the FFF, affirming that they could have opposed the holding of the match by invoking ethical or political reasons. According to him, the current situation reveals a lack of political courage:
Everyone passes the buck, but no one takes responsibility.
Call to French footballers
Asked about a possible appeal to the footballers, Thomas Portes hopes that the French players will take advantage of this opportunity to show their solidarity with the Palestinian people, even if the match takes place as planned. He cited examples of athletes involved in the past, such as American footballers who protested after the death of George Floyd or François Moncla, former captain of the French rugby team, who denounced apartheid in South Africa. . And to emphasize:
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