By Randa Darwish
It is normal for a well-known football player to meet people on daily basis who asks for photographs without the need to introduce themselves, the abnormal thing is using that image for political purposes to attack the player and entrap him into a witch-hunt.
Well apparently, this is what happened with the Egyptian football star Mohamed Aboutrika during World Cup 2018 in Russia, where he found his image on Twitter with a caption saying “Aboutrika with an Israeli fan” claiming he is normalizing relations with Israel through sports.
The photograph was tweeted by an Israeli media correspondent who added a caption in Arabic saying: “An Israeli fan takes a photograph with the Egyptian football star Mohamed Aboutrika in Moscow” and used the hashtag: “Sports Normalization.”
The image shocked Aboutrika himself who quickly responded that he did not realize the fan was Israeli. “I did not know and I apologize for my photograph. We will never recognize the Israeli zionist entity, they are murderers. The occupation and the Palestine Cause is the first priority for the Arabs and Muslims,” he replied.
The original post by the Israeli journalist received more than 300 comments, most of them are from Arabs attacking him, dismissing allegations against Aboutrika normalizing relations with Israel. Meanwhile, Aboutrika’s comment received around 35K likes and 12K retweets by Arabs, mostly Egyptians and Palestinians who praised his response, confirming they still love and respect him for his all-time honorary positions.
Translation: “You don’t need to apologize, their traps are known and the will you announced when you were honoured in Algeria is known. It is not possible to ask anyone want to take a photograph with you about his nationality and origin.”
Translation: “Who did this is immoral person, Aboutrika is a good player known for his good manners.”
Many users chose to share an old image for Aboutrika in the 2008 African Cup of Nations, when he removed his jersey to show a T-shirt reading "Sympathize with Gaza," to remind the people who accuse him of “normalizing” relations with Israel that he has always expressed his pro-Palestinian views.
Translation: “This is Aboutrika that we know, not an image was taken by a fan who did not tell his identity. Leave “sports normalization” for another people, like the Arab biking teams who participated in a race in Jerusalem on Nakba anniversary or opening the US embassy in Jerusalem.”
Aboutrika, who was dubbed as “the Prince of Hearts”, “the Magician” and “the Saint” during his playing days, has been a source of controversy among Egyptians in the last few years. The current Egyptian government added him to a terror list and accused him of financially supporting the Islamic brotherhood in Egypt. He has always denied the allegations.
