At the end of Egypt’s World Cup round of 16 victory over Australia (1-1, 4-2 on score), Hossam Hassan celebrated his team’s qualification by grabbing the Palestinian flag. The Pharaohs coach spoke in detail about his gesture this Monday at a press conference, ahead of the round of 16 against Argentina.
He did not deny the political and symbolic dimension of his gesture, on the contrary. “Everyone has emotions, he explained under the watchful eye of the FIFA press officer, who did not intervene during his lengthy statement. Anyone who feels nothing for the Palestinian people is not human. Be it Arab, European, American or someone else. Everywhere, if an animal is mistreated, people stand up for human rights, animal rights, the rights of everything. But when thousands of people die every day, children, women, men die… (…) I say that this is a shame for all of us, not just for the Arab world. Shame on the leaders who abandon people like us. (…) I’m not talking about Islam, Christianity and Judaism. This gesture was made on my initiative, because I am the same person as these people who are dying. What I’m saying is that we should use football as soft power. I call on the media, athletes, as well as us, to the slogans of FIFA,”respect” this “fair”we want fair play in our lives, respect for people. »
At the end of the speech, several journalists applauded the coach.