For the umpteenth time, a Bundesliga professional has caused a stir with a post referring to the situation in Israel and the Gaza Strip. But the post by BVB pro Ramy Bensebaini remains without consequences.
A photo shared by Ramy Bensebaini on Instagram, in which he wears a scarf with the flags of Algeria and Palestine in the company of the Algerian national team, remains without consequences for the Borussia Dortmund professional soccer player. After consulting with the 28-year-old full-back, the Bundesliga club sees no reason for sanctions.
“His home country maintains close ties with the Palestinian territories. The national team has expressed with the scarves that it deplores the victims in the civilian population in Gaza, which include many children. Ramy has assured us in a personal conversation that he is in solidarity exclusively with the Palestinian civilian population,” said the anti-discrimination officer of the club, Daniel Lörcher, the “Ruhr Nachrichten” (Thursday).
BVB, which has been involved in the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial for years, did not perceive the joint action of the Algerian internationals as an affront. “We have come to the conclusion that the action is unproblematic for us in connection with his statements. We adhere to the working definition on anti-Semitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which we adopted two years ago. It describes which statements are problematic, and his post certainly wasn’t, unlike others that are being discussed,” Lörcher found.
With this, Lörcher could have alluded to posts by other professional soccer players. Thus, FC Bayern continues to think about consequences after a pro-Palestine post by Noussair Mazraoui. The 25-year-old had spread a video on social networks wishing victory to the Palestinians in the conflict with Israel. FSV Mainz 05 had released its professional Anwar El Ghazi on Tuesday after he caused a stir on Instagram with a pro-Palestine post.
Hamas terrorists had carried out a massacre in the Israeli border area on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400 people. Israel subsequently launched air strikes in the coastal strip.