October 9, 2007
Germany roiled by refusal of soccer match in Israel
The Associated Press reports that an outcry has erupted in Germany over the refusal of dual citizenship member of a German soccer team to play a match in Israel. Both his coach and the soccer federation found nothing wrong with his refusal, sparking public controversy.
Ashkan Dejagah was born in Iran and came to Germany as a child. He has been shooting off his mouth to some German papers and saying some rather startling things, especially considering recent German history.
Berlin's daily tabloid B-Z quoted him as saying: "I have more Iranian than German blood in my veins. I am doing it out of respect. After all, my parents are Iranian."
Nothing like reminding the Germans about the importance of blood percentages and ethnicity and Jew-hatred.
He has also contradicted the soccer association's stated reason for allowing him to boycott Israel.
"Everybody knows I am a German-Iranian," the midfielder told the top-selling Bild, adding that his decision to withdraw from the game with Israel had "political reasons".
Contrast this with the soccer association:
In a statement posted on its Web site, the association said it accepted the player's "personal reasons" not to participate in the game.
"I have accepted the coach's decision, because he explained to me that the player has personal reasons for his decision," association President Theo Zwanziger said in the statement.
The fact that both the coach and soccer association found it acceptable to tolerate an ethnic hatred-based refusal to play a match speaks volumes about the state of contemporary Germany and probably much of Europe. So far, the loudest vboices raised in protest seem to be Jewish groups. This too is not encouraging.
To comment on this or any other American Thinker article or blog, you must be a subscriber to our ad-free service. Login to your subscription to access the comments section. You can subscribe on a monthly basis for $6.79 a month or for a year at $69.99
Login
Subscribe / Change PwdAd Free / Commenting Login
FOLLOW US ON
Recent Articles
- A Taste of the Swamp
- Do We Have 677 Unelected Presidents?
- Global Relations beyond the Prime Directive
- The Democrat Party: The Enemy Within?
- Tariffs and the Moral High Ground
- ‘Mahmoud Khalil, Who Are You?’
- The Slush Fund Nobody Voted For
- Hacktivism and the Possibility of WW III
- Illegals Working for Congress?
- Should FBI Agents Learn Martial Arts?
Blog Posts
- The Shakespeare National Trust determines that Shakespeare is ‘not to be’
- Carville tells Democrats to quit making asses of themselves
- About that Texas congressman who called the transgender member of Congress 'Mister' ...
- A federal district court judge erases Trump’s ability to rid the country of enemy aliens
- In the UK, rape gangs are OK, pictures of women sans hijabs not so much
- Bacha Bazi still being practiced in Afghanistan; young boys sexually abused
- UN judge convicted of forcing a woman into indentured servitude
- What are capital gains, really?
- Trump begins restoring law and order
- Purge the poison: End Middle East Studies
- The Godfather: 53 and getting better all the time
- Why aren't Johnny and Suzie reading?
- ActBlue smurfs its way to oblivion
- Hunter Biden hotfoots it to a luxury vacation in South Africa, seemingly to avoid a deposition on his claimed poverty
- The Obamas' podcast bombs