An Israeli soccer player was detained on Sunday and a Turkish prosecutor launched a criminal probe against him for suspected incitement of public hatred. Sagiv Yekhezkel’s purported crime was to have displayed a message on his bandage on his left wrist which read “100 days. 7.10,” after scoring a goal for his team Antalyaspor against rival Trabzonspor.
The message was a reference to the number of days an estimated 130 Israeli hostages have been held since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Yekhezkel was swiftly sacked from the team amid a public uproar in Turkey where pro-Palestinian sentiments championed by the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, run extremely high. Antalyaspor said the player had violated “the values of our country.”
“The Antalya public prosecutor’s office has opened a judicial investigation against Israeli soccer player Sagiv Yekhezkel for public incitement to hate due to his hateful celebration in favor of the massacre committed by Israel in Gaza,” Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz said in a social media post. The pro-government news channel Ahaber gloated that Yekhezkel, “who propagandized on behalf of the occupier Israel,” got his “just desserts.”
At least 23,000 people in Gaza — mostly women and children — have died since Israel began its retaliatory offensive against Hamas. The conflict has polarized public opinion including within the world of sports. Earlier this month, Algerian French premier league soccer player Youcef Atal was detained in the coastal city of Nice and given a suspended prison sentence for sharing social media content in favor of Gaza. Atal was ordered to pay a $49,000 fine. He deleted the posts and apologized.