At the start of the week, Hamza Choudhury created controversy across the Channel by speaking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict using the expression “from the river to the sea” (“from the river to the sea”, a pro-Palestinian slogan which evokes the creation of a Palestinian state stretching from the Jordan to the Mediterranean), all accompanied by an emoji in the colors of the Palestinian flag. Since then, the Leicester City midfielder has apologized while deleting this content from his X account while the English Federation (FA) has decided not to sanction the Loughborough native. In an open letter, however, the British governing body called on clubs and players to exercise caution in the future in case they are tempted to react to the armed conflict shaking the Middle East.
“We recognize that opinions are divided and we urge caution on those who turn to social media where messages can be misinterpreted and offend. We are aware that there is heightened sensitivity and we want to call on everyone involved in football to exercise restraint when expressing views that could be considered offensive to a community. During this difficult time, everyone in football must show respect for each other and understand the impact that language and symbols can have on others. In particular, and as the Prime Minister pointed out, the phrase From River to Sea deeply offends many people… We urge all football stakeholders to exercise extreme caution in their use of social media and public comments and we will continue to monitor this sentence and any others”can we read within the FA missive, extracts reported by the Daily Mail.
