By Kai Rebmann
Can a professional who has exposed himself to suspicion of sympathizing with Hamas terror still play for the DFB selection? Yes! At least that’s what the rainbow DFB says. Who otherwise never misses an opportunity to instrumentalize sport in a politically almost over-correct manner. Now Yusuf Kabadayi was allowed to wear the jersey of the German national team at the international match of the U20 in Portugal yesterday – as if nothing had happened!
But quite a lot has happened. On Tuesday, the Bayern pro, who is on loan to FC Schalke 04, posted a picture on Instagram with several Palestine flags and three raised fists. This was accompanied by the text to read, “I stand with Palastine.” And this only three days after the barbaric Hamas attack on civilians in Israel.
However, someone in the PR department of his employer must have called off the 19-year-old professional. The post was on Instagram for less than fifteen minutes before it was deleted. However, its disturbing content was of course still in the world.
DFB shrouds itself in silence
Instead, a statement followed in which virtually every sentence begins with “I” or “My”: “I would like to apologize for my post. It was ill-considered. I only wish that both sides can live peacefully. My condolences to all the victims. I am against war and any kind of oppression. I am a Muslim and we do not stand for violence or terror. I support the innocent Muslims like all the sufferers in this war.”
This does not sound convincing, especially since the earliest victims “in this war” are not mentioned directly in any syllable, in contrast to the “innocent Muslims”. The statement from Yusuf Kabadayi’s current club reads similarly thin: “FC Schalke 04 condemns the attacks on uninvolved civilians and the terror that is currently sweeping the country. We stand with the people and against war, anti-Semitism and xenophobia.” Not much more than standard sentences that one has to write in such a situation.
S04 sports director André Hechelmann affirms that the player “understood right away” that “this post was completely inappropriate, not only with regard to the timing.” As soon as Kabadayi is back from his international trip with the DFB U20, the incident will be dealt with in a “personal conversation”.
The DFB, on the other hand, apparently sees no reason to act. In any case, nothing was heard about the scandal from the national team’s environment. And the media, too, prefer to lapse into droning silence in view of Kabadayi’s nomination and lineup for the match in Portugal. Or is it simple shock?
Wanna bet that the DFB will use the international matches of its senior national team against the USA and Mexico to declare its “unlimited solidarity with Israel” and emphasize that there is no place for anti-Semitism in Germany? The handling of the case of Yusuf Kabadayi shows what to make of these window-dressing speeches.
By way of comparison, just a few weeks ago there was wild speculation in the media about Felix Nmecha possibly being trans- and homophobic after the self-confessed Christian posted various articles on this topic in social media. As a result, the national player had to report to the DFB. Even the move from Wolfsburg to Dortmund, which was practically a foregone conclusion at the time, threatened to fall through in the meantime.
Union pro also suspected of anti-Semitism
Already on Monday, Aissa Laidouni, Tunisian professional in the service of Union Berlin, also published a very similar post on Instagram. The picture shows a Palestine flag and six hands raised in prayer. And here too, of course, it is above all the timing, hardly chosen by chance, that makes the post a scandal.
On reitschuster.de inquiry the Pressestelle of the iron ones expressed itself as follows (excerpt): “We take the post of Aissa Laidouni in this connection [die „schrecklichen Angriffe auf Israel“] very seriously. Part of dealing with an employee’s conduct in a professional and legally sound manner is not making any rash interpretations without having spoken to the player in person. There will be such a conversation with him and consequent assessment of the incident after his return from the national team.”
Berlin Maccabi Club draws drastic consequences
This case is even more explosive after it became known just a few days ago that the upper league club TuS Makkabi Berlin has to stop training and playing its teams in all divisions (including soccer, basketball, chess) until further notice. The reason given by the Jewish club for this drastic step was that the safety of its athletes and members could no longer be guaranteed.
That this is far more than “just” a subjective feeling is shown by a sad incident from November 2022. A year ago, the A-juniors of Hertha 06 and Tus Makkabi faced each other. Anti-Semitic insults and threats were made.
As the “BZ” reports, the Maccabi players were shown the Hitler salute. In addition, sentences are said to have been uttered such as, “I’ll burn you and your filthy flag, you bastards, just like the Germans did to you.”
Egrün Çakir, Hertha 06 chairman and father of one of the perpetrators identified at the time, added: “My son will spend his entire life hating the Jews – I know that 100 percent. There is no one you can sit down and talk to, but they say from the outset: We are Jews, we have the right, we can do anything we want.”
We would have been happy to publish a statement from the Maccabi officials regarding the at least temporary withdrawal from training and match operations. However, a corresponding inquiry unfortunately remained unanswered.
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Kai Rebmann is a publicist and publisher. He manages a publishing company and runs his own blog.
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