By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ANKARA/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Turkey has detained Israeli soccer player Sagiv Jehezkel for displaying a message about the Hamas massacre of some 1,200 people and kidnappings of 240 others 100 days ago in Israel.
Jehezkel scored a goal for his team and then displayed a message reading “100 days. 07/10” on a bandage on his wrist, clearly referring to the October 7 atrocities by Hamas, viewed as an Islamist terrorist organization by Israel.
The atrocities, the worst on record in the 75-year history of the state of Israel, sparked the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Turkish Minister of Justice Sagiv Jehezkel said the soccer player was held as the incident amounted to “incitement to hatred” after his club, Antalyaspor, sacked him over the matter.
“Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has initiated a judicial investigation against Israeli football player Sagiv Jehezkel for ‘inciting people to hatred and hostility.’ [This is] due to his ugly gesture supporting Israel’s massacre in Gaza after scoring a goal in the Antalyaspor-Trabzonspor Super Lig match,” Tunc wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
It was not immediately clear when and if a trial will begin.
BROADER TENSIONS
However, the arrest comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğa compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler while discussing Israel’s war in Gaza.
‘‘Is what Netanyahu is doing any less than Hitler? It is not,’’ Erdogan said in televised remarks in Ankara, Turkey, at a science awards ceremony. The Turkish leader has frequently criticized Israel for its conduct in Gaza.
“They were talking ill of Hitler. What difference do you have from Hitler? They will make us miss Hitler,” Erdogan added.
Netanyahu fired back, condemning Erdogan’s treatment of Turkey’s significant Kurdish minority, saying the Turkish leader “is the last person who can preach morality to us” and condemning his support for Hamas.
The Israeli military, Netanyahu said, “is fighting to eliminate the most abhorrent and brutal terrorist organization in the world.”
The Hamas-run health ministry claims about 24,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel, but those figures have been complex to verify independently. Israel says it targets Hamas but accuses the group of using civilians as human shields.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Nuclear material has been discovered in Syria and placed under International Atomic Energy Agency oversight, reviving attention on a clandestine nuclear program that Israel destroyed nearly two decades ago.
Humanoid robots capable of navigating rugged terrain, detecting people and conducting around-the-clock surveillance could eventually join U.S. Border Patrol operations along the southern border, as an American robotics company moves closer to potential national-security deployments.
Israel carried out an unusual airstrike deep inside northwestern Syria early Tuesday, targeting the strategic Abu al-Duhur military airfield shortly after a Turkish military delegation reportedly visited the base to assess its rehabilitation, according to Israeli and Syrian reports. The operation prompted a rare public rebuke from a senior U.S. envoy.
Newly declassified FBI records released by the White House detail what officials describe as a years-long Chinese intelligence effort to penetrate American political circles through sexual relationships, campaign donations, and strategically placed interns.
President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is considering a significant overhaul of its Gaza disarmament framework after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a plan that would have linked Hamas weapons handovers to phased Israeli troop withdrawals, according to an exclusive report by The Times of Israel.
Iran’s rulers were quietly preparing for a broader and potentially prolonged Middle East war even as Tehran publicly engaged in diplomatic efforts with the United States, according to an exclusive investigation by The Wall Street Journal.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced Sunday that he had ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” military exercises with key regional ally South Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Seoul’s refusal to assist Washington in its confrontation with Iran.