The Electronic Intifada 17 November 2024
Sam Morsy in action against Tottenham on 10 November. Morsy, Ipswich Town captain, is an outspoken supporter of Palestinian rights.
SIPA USASam Morsy deals with pressure every week.
As the captain of Ipswich Town, an English soccer club, he helped the club secure promotion to England’s top-tier division, the Premier League, in May.
And just last week, the defensive midfielder inspired Ipswich to its first victory in the top division in over 22 years when his side ran out 2-1 winners at rivals Tottenham.
But despite the intense public scrutiny of the Premier League, Morsy has never hidden his solidarity with Palestine. His Instagram account sports a Palestinian flag next to his name, and the British-Egyptian player has been vocal in talking about Palestine and Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, and in support of Palestinian athletes.
According to the Palestinian Football Association, as of 4 November, Israel had killed 523 athletes in Gaza.The total includes 341 soccer players, among them 91 children.
Israel has also destroyed more than 64 sporting facilities across Gaza, including nine of Gaza’s 10 soccer stadia.
October has been a particularly bloody month for Gaza’s athletes, coinciding with Israel’s genocidal assault on northern Gaza, during which it has almost entirely isolated the area, killed more than 1,800 people since early October, forcibly displaced more than 100,000 people, and cut off humanitarian aid and imposed a famine on the estimated 75,000 people who remain.
Heartbreaking
During the same period, the death toll among athletes has risen sharply from 454 to 523. In other words, Israel has killed more than two athletes per day over the past month.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Morsy told The Electronic Intifada. “It’s heartbreaking that the killings of innocent people continue, that our football players are murdered.”
Morsy’s willingness to speak out against Israel’s atrocities in Gaza has won him many fans in the territory and stands in stark contrast to the tepid positions of FIFA, international soccer’s governing federation, and UEFA, European soccer’s ruling association in which Israel is included despite not being in Europe.
Just one week after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, FIFA announced that it would impose a ban on Russia’s national team and clubs, preventing them from competing outside their own country.
But nearly 14 months into a genocide in Gaza, neither FIFA nor UEFA have imposed any measures on Israel’s national team or league clubs, leaving Israeli fans – some of whom are notoriously racist – free to rampage across Europe.
Meanwhile, Israel’s violence against Gaza’s athletes and sports facilities continues unabated.
On 11 November, in strikes on Nuseirat refugee camp and Gaza City, Israel killed Eyad Abu-Khater and Hisham Al-Thaltini, who played for al-Tuffah and Falasteen clubs, respectively.
On 5 November, Israeli planes also targeted the headquarters of Al-Maghazi Club, killing basketball player Firas al-Sharkh.“I fear death every day”
On 30 October, Israel’s indiscriminate attacks took the lives of child talent, Abdul-Qader Abu-Samra, of the al-Mohatarafin Academy, and short stature international player, Salah Shabaan.
Surviving athletes, meanwhile, just as all survivors in Gaza, live in constant fear.Muhammad al-Sharif, 18, is a goalkeeper for Gaza Sport Club. Like everyone else in Gaza, Israel’s 14-month-long assault has had a direct impact on Muhammad.
His home in Gaza City has been destroyed, his club flattened and his brother killed. Muhammad himself is now displaced to Nuseirat refugee camp.
Despite the horror and tragedy, he remains determined to pursue his dream of becoming a professional player like his role model, Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid’s Belgian goalkeeper.
It’s a mixture of “depression and despair not to have kicked a ball for 14 months,” Muhammad said. “All I dream of is resuming my career.”
At the shelter, he regularly attends a loosely organized five-a-side game in order to keep up his fitness. But the reality around him haunts him.
“I fear death every day,” Muhammad told The Electronic Intifada. “I don’t think we have a future here. Sport has been decimated. There are no clubs and no stadia left, and many players and managers have been killed.”
In addition to the lack of action from FIFA, Muhammad said he also felt let down by the wider footballing community.
“Among all footballers across the globe, only a few show their support for us,” Muhammad told The Electronic Intifada, name-checking among a few others, Sam Morsy.
“It gives me hope that someone like him is supporting us. I hope more will join him.”
What will it take?
But it is the lack of action by FIFA that really rankles.
“I don’t know how many players have to be killed before FIFA bans Israel from football,” Nader al-Jayoushi, the deputy secretary general of the Palestine Olympic Committee, told The Electronic Intifada. “Israel has systematically targeted and decimated the sporting sector in Gaza.”
Al-Jayoushi praised the athletes and soccer players around the world who have been vocal with their solidarity – including Morsy and Cardiff City’s Anwar El Ghazi, who successfully sued his German club Mainz 05 for wrongful dismissal after he was sacked in November 2023 over a social media post in support of Palestinian rights.
“We need more like them in order to impose sanctions on Israel and raise awareness about our cause. They’re really a part of our family.”
That familial feeling is reciprocated. Morsy told The Electronic Intifada that the support of fans in Gaza was an inspiration and praised Palestinians in Gaza as “true heroes.”
“The bravery and courage of the Palestinian people inspires me beyond belief. I wish one day all athletes can thrive in Gaza and live a happy life.”
He also said the world’s silence was deeply distressing.“It’s very sad that the world stays silent while the atrocities continue. What is happening to the players in particular and people in Palestine in general is beyond belief. My heart and prayers are with them all,” Morsy said
Nujum, a UK-based organization to support Muslim athletes, said the loss of so many young athletes in Gaza doesn’t only extinguish individual aspirations but diminishes the sporting spirit in the region.
“It’s heartbreaking to hear about the number of footballers killed in Gaza,” Ebadur Rahman, Nujum’s founder and chief executive, told The Electronic Intifada. “It has left an enduring scar on the heart of the sporting world and is a stark reminder of the devastating impact the war has on innocent lives.”
And he was keen to convey a message to Palestine’s soccer players.
“You are not forgotten. Though 14 long months have passed without the chance to play the game, your love, strength, spirit and passion for football continue to inspire us all,” Rahman said. “You are showing us all that football is more than just a sport; it is a community and a movement that unites us in moments of joy, sorrow and solidarity.”
Abubaker Abed is a journalist and translator from Deir al-Balah refugee camp in Gaza.
