The Ghana Football Association distanced itself from the Ghanian soccer player who exhibited an Israeli flag after their World Cup match Saturday. John Painstil hoisted the flag after Ghana’s win over the Czech Republic.
After the international uproar caused by his celebration of the widely-opposed rogue state, Painstil offered an apologized for his antics.
The Israel-based defender explained during an interview that it was to thank his numerous admirers in Israel.
GFA Communications Director, Randy Abbey stated the Association found the act very unfortunate. He said the player was naive about the geo-political dimension of his actions and was just acknowledging the support of his fans.
Abbey said, “John was naive about the political implications of his act. The FA will want to apologise to everybody who has been affected by the act.”
John Painstil offered an unqualified apology to the GFA and to everybody affected by the act, according to Mr. Abbey.
“He met with us and apologised and we also want to say that we are here for football and not for politics,” Mr. Abbey iterated.
“The fact that it was only him shows that it was not something that was agreed upon by the entire team,” he stressed.
Israel stands in open contravention of more than 60 United Nations’ resolutions, caused the largest and oldest refugee population in the world, and continues the most intensive military occupation in the world.
Widely considered a state that acts beyond international recourse, Israel is one of the most controverial countries in the world. As boycott and divestment movements emerge, many consider Israel the next South Africa.
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I see.
So you’re hoping that the people who click here from google will read your short “summary” of Israel and believe it?
Here’s how a translation of this would be for someone who is rabidly and racistly Zionist, just as racist as you are for the Palestinian cause:
” ‘Palestine’ does not exist and has never existed, although the people that currently pretend to reside there are all towelheads who blow up children for fun.
Internationally recognized as the bastard children of the Middle East, Palestinians only care about raising their children to kill others, hence the worldwide disdain for their cause, their views, and their ‘country.’”
You, sir, are a bigot.
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 8:32 amOnce again, arab whining and pressure ruins a happy and joyful moment.
Nice work.
If only you would apply the same amount of energy inwards, you might be surprised at the positive results. Of course – Fatah and Hamas clearly don’t respond well to such tactics, unless by “well” you mean through AK-47 fire.
So nothing will change.
As the French say, c’est la vie.
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 8:33 amAnon 8:32, there’s a difference between your regurgetation of Zionist racism (opinions), and Will’s unequivocal statements of fact. If you want to make a valid point, try to refute his statements of fact. You sir are a moron.
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 8:40 amGoebbels couldn’t have written it any better himself. Good work, Will!
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 8:49 amit’s funny that you say israel “caused” the world’s largest refugee problem, when actually it was three successive arab wars against israel that “caused” such a mess. anyway, not that you care.
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 8:51 amAnon 8:51, and Israel’s racist law of return which prevents the NATIVE population from returning has nothing to do with it?
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 8:54 amUnequivocal fact? How about the fact that Palestinians DO teach their children to kill?
How about the fact that their givernment have a stated goal to kill jews?
You guys are shills!
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 8:57 amAnon 8:57, he said statements of fact, not unsupported myths (and spare us subsequent posts of links to more unsupported claims on zionist websites)
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 8:59 amWait a darn tootin minute. You said the evil Jews were infinitely powerful and controlled everything in the world. How can this be? Is is possible you posers are losing against a weak enemy who can’t even defend a flag? Wow, it must truly suck to be you.
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 9:08 am“You said the evil Jews were infinitely powerful and controlled everything in the world.”
Hey hick, now you’re just making shit up. Nobody said that.
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 9:15 amFor those naive Jewish people who actually think that Israel can be even justified in it’s current form know very little of history – they need to learn the lessons of South Africa. Israel represents everything that is evil. Even when Jews complain about Hamas, they fail to recognise the fact the Israeli secret service with CIA actually created Hamas and funded them in the early days as a counter balance to Arafat. Once again they screw up in style.
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 9:19 amFor all those silly Arab people who dream that terrorism works take a lesson from all the other shithole arabist nationalist nightmare states that end in torture, gas weapons, oppression, darkness.
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 9:38 amI am south african and this is not that. But thank you for playing
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 9:40 amhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/728761.html
Posted by TM (Jewlicious) | June 19, 2006, 11:11 amKabobfest Guiding Principle: 9:19 AM: “Israel represents everything that is evil.”
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 11:57 amKABOBfest Guiding Principle: Allow idiots to post freely, and the comments will be filled with idiocy.
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 12:13 pmyo guys chill. look what y’all are doing; you’ve ended up insulting each other from what started out as a simple conversation on sport. so he waved an israeli flag; i’m ghanaian and i know the kid is just ignorant and there you guys are getting upset on a tangent. nobody’s even mentioned the fella the conversation is captioned about. will’s ocnclusion to a good piece was not necessary. and even less so are the comments which have proceeded thence. so my two cents is this, in future if you start a topic, stick with it. and if you find something irritating about a topic, sure, point it out but don’t let simple conversations degenerate. c’mon folks.
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 1:11 pmWill..have I even told you that I love you …take this hug from a beautiful palestinian muslim girl …
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 1:19 pmI am from Ghana and I am Moslem, and I have no problems with waht the guy did. Where does it say that Moslems are supposed to hate Israel?
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 1:43 pmOh man, Will, Fadi, Nadeem, Nabeel – you just gotta love the Arab World.
The food is great, I love it. Most of the people are super nice and hospitable.
But the conspiracy theories are so much better. Just classic:
Fury in Egypt over Ghana’s Israeli flag waver
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060619/wl_mideast_afp/fblwc2006gpcghaegypt_060619115013;_ylt=Ao1qWegEKc5A5JmoRNaeUuYZO7gF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGVna3NhBHNlYwNzc3JlbA–
“The ignorant and stupid Paintsil, who spent 20 days in Egypt during the last African Nations Cup, plays for Hapoel,” sports commentator Alaa Sadek wrote in Monday’s edition of the daily Al-Akhbar, explaining to baffled Egyptian audiences Painstil’s link to Israel.
“Egyptians supported the Ghanaian team all the way until the 82nd minute, and regretted it after the Israeli flag (waving),” screamed a bold red headline in the independent daily Al-Masry al-Yom.
“As soon as the referee blew his whistle to start the match, Egyptians were out enthusiastically, almost hysterically supporting Ghana, until defender John Paintsil took out the Israeli flag,” read the paper’s front page article.
The live commentator on the Arab satellite channel broadcasting all World Cup matches in the region abruptly cut short his trademark “goooaaaaaaal” when Paintsil brought out the flag.
“What are you doing, man?” the bewildered commentator said.
The main question on Egyptian lips after the match was “why?”.
Some papers described Paintsil as a “Mossad agent”, others said “an Israeli had paid him to do it” but the most elaborate theory was offered by the top-selling state-owned daily Al-Ahram.
“The real reason,” sports analyst Hassan el-Mestekawi wrote, stems from the fact that many Ghanaian players go through football training camps set up by an Israeli coach who “discovered the treasure of African talent, and abused the poverty of the continent’s children” with the ultimate goal of selling them off to European clubs.
“The training program for these children starts every morning with a salute to the Israeli flag,” Mestekawi claimed.
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
And Jews own the moon, too!
Some Egyptians just can’t help themselves.
Too funny. In the “State-owned” newspaper, no less.
Honestly, it’s no surprise that the U.N. feels compelled to write reports on the “progress” and “development” of the Arab world – so much time and energy is spent by many of their own people driving them backwards.
A shame, too.
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 1:48 pmtm ,
I know the whole story of Arab jews.
Zionism has always looked at the people of the East as inferior, including Jews from Arab countries. From the turn of the century, Zionists tried to bring Arab Jews to Palestine as cheap labor. Up to now, there are Arab Jews in Israel who are discriminated against within the Jewish population. It is largely the European Jews who set the tone.
Traditionally, the way that Arab Jews have related to their environment is to completely integrate themselves into it ,they were treated equally as muslim,christian Arabs.What happened when they immigrated to “Israel” they faced an Ashkenazi community that did not understand.
I don’t have to expalin to you how the Jews were treated in the western world..
WILL….DO YOU MIND IF I KISS YOU ? …MWAAAAAAAHHHH..LOVE YOU
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 2:22 pmMost Israelis are Sephardic. So you’re back to hating other semites. Your Scary White Man flavor of racism is so 15 minutes ago.
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 2:34 pm2:22,
Not really. You couldn’t be further from the truth.
The people in Israel who distrust (Arab) Muslims most: Mizrachi and Sephardi Jews who were born in Muslim countries.
The people in Israel who distrust Muslims second most: Christian Arabs.
Although your theory would be convenient.
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 3:04 pmanon 8:54 AM: “and Israel’s racist law of return which prevents the NATIVE population from returning has nothing to do with it?”
what about the hundreds of thousands of jews that were booted from arab countries after 1948?
the difference is, they don’t want to go back because they’re living in israel, europe, and the US. all of which are nicer places than iraq, syria, egypt, libya, etc.
on the other hand, palestinian “refugees” get fucked over by their arab neighbors yet direct all their hatred towards israel. which was invaded by those arab neighbors in 1948.
here’s a hint: if a group of people are living somewhere for FIFTY YEARS NOW, they’re no longer “refugees.” time to move on. maybe try to get your arab neighbors to help you out instead of having you live in tents as refugees.
how many blog entries are you going to have on this issue?
do you people think about anything other than israel?
do palestinians have any hobbies?
do you even watch the world cup or do you only care about it because of this one incident?
are you more impressed by argentina or the netherlands so far? that should be a good game…
what about that season finale of lost? that was pretty crazy, right?
are the mavericks going to come back at home? are the refs favoring the heat?
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 5:04 pmmaybe try to get your arab neighbors to help you out instead of having you live in tents as refugees.
There are no tents in Palestinian ‘refugee camps.’ They’re towns (with phsyical, concrete buildings, paved roads/streets, electricity, etc..) that they call ‘refugee camps’ to purposefully invoke that very common perception, which is in fact a misperception.
They might not be Monte Carlo, but they are hardly ‘tent cities.’
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 5:14 pmBoom Boom Boom
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 6:38 pmQuack quack.
“Will” parrots the parrotstinian line because he is a parrot and not a human.
He is from al-Parrotstein, like all the Parrotstinians.
Quack quack, birdbrain.
Posted by Birdie | June 19, 2006, 7:46 pm“After the international uproar caused by his celebration of the widely-opposed rogue state..”
Widely opposed where, you ragheads? In Muslim dungheap countries where nothing is produced? Warren Buffett just bought an Israeli company for USD 4BN. What the hell has anyone done in an Arab country that’s worth two bits, outside of oil?
Spain 3, Tunisia 1
Saudi-raghead-ayrabia, 0
Great!
Posted by CamillatheCamel | June 19, 2006, 7:56 pmhey camilla, you need some therapy. your outrageous racism is suited more for a skinhead website
Posted by krao | June 19, 2006, 8:14 pmIsrael will stay as a progressive and dynamic country of this world! Forever! Antisemites of the world, get used to that!
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 9:24 pmWhat a bunch oif wankers moslems (particularly arabs) are.
Did the big bad black man from ghana wave a big bad israeli flag?
Go blow yourself…up
Posted by Anonymous | June 19, 2006, 9:47 pmI was cheering for them, but seeing that oppressing flag immediately turned me off. It was disgusting and unexpected.
I am now supporting other teams in that group, even the U.S.
Posted by Anonymous | June 20, 2006, 1:30 amGO USA!! I hope they batter the Israeli waving prat
Posted by Anonymous | June 20, 2006, 4:01 amI live watching the keffiyeh wrappers go nuts. A guy waving a flag is sure fired to whip them up into a frenzy.
Posted by Anonymous | June 20, 2006, 5:13 amHere is the text of the apology:
“I’m sorry you morons have such empty heads and thin skins” is what he said. Then he laughed and said “Suck it up Nancy’s – maybe Saudi Arabia can play our Girl’s Team.”
Posted by Anonymous | June 20, 2006, 6:53 amThe hostile reaction to a simple flag waving is so telling that it’s just very sad.
Hey Palestinian Girl who likes Will, you should know that the current President of Israel, its Defense Minister, Minister of Transportation, Minister of Religious Affairs, Minister of the Interior and a number of other key members of the government and judiciary, not to mention of the business world in Israel, are all of Arab Jewish descent.
Posted by TM (Jewlicious) | June 20, 2006, 11:56 am“Will..have I even told you that I love you …take this hug from a beautiful palestinian muslim girl …”
Hug gladly accepted and badly needed.
Posted by Will | June 20, 2006, 12:14 pm“For all those silly Arab people who dream that terrorism works take a lesson from all the other shithole arabist nationalist nightmare states that end in torture, gas weapons, oppression, darkness. “
Well terrorism seemed to work for Israel, didn’t it? That’s how it was created after all.
Also, it’s interesting that all the zionist islamophobes and anti-Arab bigots flock to Arab/Muslim sites. Is this how you people spend your time? Is this your personal hobby? Spewing hate at Arabs and Muslims? There seems to be more zionists spewing bigotry against Arabs and Muslims on this blog than any other group.
Posted by BrazilianInBrooklyn | June 21, 2006, 9:22 amNope, terrorism is not how Israel was formed. Sorry.
Posted by TM (Jewlicious) | June 21, 2006, 11:01 amIsreal is an oppressive state that denies freedom and autonomy to the Palestinian people. Palestinians want to sit in coffee shops, see there friends, work, live and raise their children just like everyone else. That jackass who waved the Isreali flag around they say out of ignorance. I dont understand how a black man from Ghana can be completey ignorant of the controversy that he would cause by doing that. Isreal may be here to stay….but not in its present form. Isreal as we know it will sooner or later crumble under its own evil doings.
Posted by Anonymous | June 22, 2006, 9:40 amSeems to be a very intelligent and clear-headed man from Ghana.
Posted by TM (Jewlicious) | June 22, 2006, 11:56 am