England manager Gareth Southgate has been urged by former Chelsea and West Ham boss Avram Grant to condemn the Hamas terrorist attack.
Southgate last week expressed his “extreme sadness for anybody who has lost loved ones in the attacks that have happened,” while the Football Association released a statement saying it stood for “humanity and an end to the death, violence, fear and suffering.”
The Israeli Football Association condemned the FA’s response, together with their refusal to light the Wembley Arch in the colours of the Jewish community, and Grant has addressed Southgate personally in a message posted on Instagram.
Grant, who is Israeli and managed the Israel national team, said: “Hi, I have a message to Gareth Southgate, who I respect a lot as a person and is a very good coach.
“I saw your statement. You don’t have to choose sides. Also, you can choose sides to condemn what we saw in the videos - children without heads, girls that got burned alive, old women, that I can not even speak about this. You just need to be a human being.
“If my brother will do it, I would condemn this, I wouldn’t accept it. I know a lot of Palestinians, they are my friends, they even come to see football from Gaza, from West Bank, from everything. Good friends, they come to watch football. They say they don’t agree about this, but they don’t accept these brutal murders. They don’t, they call me. They say it’s not Islam and I agree. I know Islam very well. Islam is a wonderful religion, they love people, they’re very polite.
“So you can stand in your point but still condemn these brutal murders of children, girls and all people. You have to do that, it’s for humanity.”
Grant also posted the image of a message written by Albert Einstein as he spoke, which said: “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”
Supporters will once again only be allowed to take flags of either of the two competing nations into Wembley for Tuesday night’s European Championship qualifier between England and Italy.
The Premier League, who have taken internal and external safety advice, are expected to issue guidance to clubs this week to follow the FA’s stance and prevent supporters from taking Israel or Palestine flags into grounds.
Tottenham already have a policy of not allowing any flags of “any political or religious affiliation” to be displayed inside the club’s £1 billion stadium.
Israeli flags have been displayed at Spurs matches in the past, but there is currently no plan to act outside of the Premier League’s guidance or relax the club’s own rules, which means any Israel flags could be confiscated or their owners forced to leave the game against Fulham next Monday night.
Tottenham last week faced criticism for their response to the Hamas attack, with the chairman of the club’s Tribute Trust writing to tender his resignation.
Jonathan Adelman has chaired the Tribute Trust, which is a charity organisation established to look after the needs of former players, for the past 10 years.
But in a letter addressed to Tottenham’s executive director Donna Cullen, which was also posted on social media, Adelman has informed the club of his resignation due to “a chronic lack of moral clarity” and said he can “no longer engage” with Cullen and chairman Daniel Levy.
Crystal Palace are the only Premier League club to have labelled the Hamas attack a ‘terrorist’ incident, while Chelsea said they “stand with the Jewish community in London.”
