Egyptian squash superstar Ali Farag has called out western media for double standards on the reporting of events regarding the Ukraine war and Palestine.
Ali Farag, after winning the Optasia 2022 Squash Champion title at the Wimbledon Club in London, claimed that the west does not highlight the events in Palestine as it does not suit their narrative in the presentation ceremony.
The athlete said he know he will get into trouble for making such statements.
Egyptian squash player @AliFarag:
“We’ve never been allowed to speak about politics in sports but all of a sudden it’s allowed. I hope people look at oppression everywhere around the world. Palestinian have been going through that for the past 74 yrs.”
— لينة (@LinahAlsaafin) March 13, 2022
“One more thing that I know is going to get me in trouble, but you know we’ve all seen what’s going on in the world at the moment with Ukraine, and nobody is happy about what’s going on,” he said as quoted in the report. “We’ve never been allowed to speak about politics in sports but all of a sudden it’s allowed.”
He added: “The Palestinians have been going through that for the past 74 years and, well, I guess because it doesn’t fit the narrative of the media of the West, we couldn’t talk about it, but now that we can talk about Ukraine, we can talk about Palestinians. So please keep that in mind.”
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The squash players made the statements when global sports organizations with the likes of FIFA, PSA, Formula One and FIBA have put sanctions on Russia in support of Ukraine.
It is pertinent to mention that the Celtic Football Club from Scotland were fined by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) in 2016 for having its fans fly the Palestinian flag.
They were reprimanded for making “gestures, words, objects or any other means to transmit any message that is not fit for a sports event, particularly messages that are of a political, ideological, religious, offensive or provocative nature.”
