Eran Zahavi has again made himself heard on Instagram about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. On Tuesday night, he added fuel to the fire by posting an edited photo, which appears as if Paul Pogba and Amad Diallo are holding an Israeli flag. In reality, the Manchester United players wore a Palestinian flag on Tuesday after the game against Fulham (1-1). Wednesday morning Zahavi comes with a new statement.
The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has been a topic of discussion on social media for weeks. Zahavi tries to clarify what is going on. “Now that I have your attention, it is time to explain what is really going on. None of you know about the background of the conflict. Maybe you don’t even know where Gaza and Jerusalem are. Better to use social media to call for peace from both sides. Everything then becomes a lot easier, ”Zahavi writes.
After his statement, violent images follow on his Instagram account, including of fired rockets. The images are accompanied by a text: “Social media has been inundated with posts supporting the plight of the Palestinians and condemning Israel. Let’s clarify a few things. First of all, Israel does not want to harm Palestinians in Gaza. Hamas fired the first shots when it began launching missiles at Israeli civilians, leading to escalation. Hamas launches its missiles from densely populated areas, from schools, hospitals and homes. Hamas uses the people of Gaza as a human shield for its soldiers and leaders. Hamas aims its missiles at densely populated Israeli cities for one reason: to kill women, men and children. Kill Hamas missiles. It is our right and duty to defend ourselves and protect our people. Any other country in the world would do exactly the same. We all hope for peace and quiet. ”
The message from the PSV striker comes the morning after his edited post that featured Pogba and Diallo. “Thanks guys. We appreciate the support of everyone around the world,” Zahavi wrote cynically with the edited photo. The 33-year-old attacker already posted a similar photo on his Instagram Stories on Monday. Then he made it look like Hamza Choudhury and Wesley Fofana of Leicester City were holding an Israeli flag, when in reality they were walking the field with a Palestinian flag. That last post also quickly disappeared from Zahavi’s Instagram.
Zahavi also made himself heard on Instagram last week. Then he shared a post that read, “More than 300 missiles have been fired from Gaza at Israel.” The post was accompanied with the hashtag #IsraelUnderAttack. Another Story by Zahavi shows how the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is being attacked. The PSV striker also referred to a post by Israeli TV presenter Assi Azar, which showed images of rockets flying over Tel Aviv.
Other PSV players, such as Jordan Teze, Pablo Rosario and Mohamed Ihattaren, stood up for the Palestinian cause last week. This led to an internal conversation among the people of Eindhoven, in which, according to general director Toon Gerbrands, ‘a lot of mutual understanding’ was shown. “Eran is therefore a very realistic boy”, said Gerbrands. From ‘Listen, we don’t have to agree, it’s nothing personal’. That’s how they were all in it. There was a lot of mutual understanding and respect and that maturity is good for me. I went through something like this, but it was over faster than I thought. “