Berlin - Saba:
Fortuna Düsseldorf, a German second division football club, has decided to withdraw from signing a player affiliated with the Zionist regime, Shawn Weissman, following his statements calling for the genocide of Palestinians.
The German club said in a statement on the X platform last night: "We have been closely monitoring Shawn Weissman, but ultimately decided not to sign him."
Much controversy was sparked among fans on social media last Monday when news emerged that Weissmann was close to joining Düsseldorf from Spanish club Granada, according to Anadolu Agency.
Media sources reported that the club yielded to fans' anger over Weissmann's social media statements and decided not to proceed with the deal despite the player's arrival in Düsseldorf.
Weissmann, 29, was about to take to the field for his first training session when he was called aside and informed that the signing had been officially canceled.
The striker, who has 33 caps for the Israeli national team, called in social media posts for Gaza to be "wiped off the map" and "dropped 200 tons of bombs on it."
He also liked photos of Gazans, asking, "Why don't they shoot themselves in the head?" Weissmann, who deleted the posts shortly after posting them, later said he had made a mistake and acted in a moment of emotion. Düsseldorf fans launched an online petition last Monday, saying Weissmann's "disrespectful and discriminatory comments... starkly contradict the principles Fortuna stands for and seeks to promote."
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been facing an unprecedented wave of hunger since the Israeli enemy closed the Strip's crossings in early March, imposing severe restrictions on the entry of food, relief aid, fuel, and medicine.
With American and European support, the Israeli enemy army has continued to commit genocidal crimes in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 61,020 Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom are children and women, and the injury of 150,671 others. This is a preliminary toll, with thousands of victims still buried under the rubble and on the streets, unable to be reached by ambulances and rescue teams.
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