Ghana Apologises To Arab Diplomats Over Israel Flag (7 Viewers)

[AbuGadanzieri]

http://www.goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=80147

Ghana Apologises To Arab Diplomats Over Israel Flag


Ghana's foreign minister, Nana Addo Akufo-Addo, has apologised to ambassadors from Arab nations after a Ghanaian soccer player triggered a diplomatic bust-up by raising the Israeli flag to celebrate a World Cup victory.
Defender John Paintsil, who plays his club football in Israel with Hapoel Tel Aviv, waved a small blue and white Israeli flag after Ghana's 2-0 win over Czech Republic last Saturday, provoking anger from Arab states.

Libyan authorities summoned Ghana's Ambassador in Tripoli earlier this week to express their indignation over the incident, Ghana's Foreign Minister said.

But he said Paintsil had no ill intent, and his actions were not officially sanctioned.

"The incident was the act of an individual, who was completely ignorant of its political and diplomatic implications, and clearly had no official support," Akufo-Addo told Reuters on Thursday.

Akufo-Addo on Wednesday met ambassadors from the Palestinian Authority, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Algeria and Morocco and apologised to them, he said.

"The government of Ghana deeply regrets this act by one of our citizens," Akufo-Addo said.

"Ghana has not drifted from its even-handed diplomacy in the Arab-Israeli conflict and we hope that this incident will not affect our relations with our Arab brothers and sisters," he said, adding he believed the explanation was taken in good faith.

Ghana's Football Association apologised on Monday for Paintsil's conduct and the Arab League said on Wednesday it had received an official apology from Ghana over the incident.

 

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[Slagathor]

Jesus Christ, why apologise to a bunch of over-sensitive idiots?

 

[Geof]

wtf? why should they apologise?? the guy lives in Israel, and loves the country. He waived their flag.

 

[Snoop]

apologize?? for what?

 

[Seven]

People like ReBel should be killed. The world would be a better place.

 

[Eddy]

What a load of crap just for a flag. If I love a country, that gives me every right to wave it's flag. I have nothing against Arabs but f*ck this, it's stupid sh*t like this that pisses me off, and coming from an Arab ?!?! They should know better...much better...

 

[ZhiXin]

Apologies? What apologies?
I don't understand what wrong did the player did when waving a Israel flag.

They r making it as if the Ghanian player made racist comments or something like that

 

[Rami]

On the day of the incident I tried to put my feeling about the Arab-Israeli conflict aside. And thought what if Yasser Al-Qahtani (Our most prolific striker) waived a flag of Italy after scoring the goal against of Tunisia? I know I wouldn't like that one bit. What if Christiano Ronaldo waived the flag England, or Ronaldo of Spain, or Adriano of Italy? This definatly won't warrant an apology but still a player is represnting his country and showing pride in another country is like stepping on his country.

 

[Slagathor]

On the day of the incident I tried to put my feeling about the Arab-Israeli conflict aside. And thought what if Yasser Al-Qahtani (Our most prolific striker) waived a flag of Italy after scoring the goal against of Tunisia? I know I wouldn't like that one bit. What if Christiano Ronaldo waived the flag England, or Ronaldo of Spain, or Adriano of Italy? This definatly won't warrant an apology but still a player is represnting his country and showing pride in another country is like stepping on his country.

I wouldn't care if Rafael van der Vaart went to wave a Spanish flag after winning the World Cup because his mum is Spanish. It's his right.

Now, if the Ghanese player meant it as a symbol for his religion (Judaism - which doesn't seem to be the case here but it's happened before), then he needs to realise a country is a completely different thing than a religion. It makes little sense to wave an Italian flag because you're a Catholic and Italy is where Catholicism comes from...

Replace 'Italy' with 'Vatican City' in the above metaphor if you must... The point still stands.

 

[Eddy]

It's nonsense I tell you.

 

[Rami]

I wouldn't care if Rafael van der Vaart went to wave a Spanish flag after winning the World Cup because his mum is Spanish. It's his right.

Now, if the Ghanese player meant it as a symbol for his religion (Judaism - which doesn't seem to be the case here but it's happened before), then he needs to realise a country is a completely different thing than a religion. It makes little sense to wave an Italian flag because you're a Catholic and Italy is where Catholicism comes from...

Replace 'Italy' with 'Vatican City' in the above metaphor if you must... The point still stands.

Well in Rafael's case it is totally understandable because he has a strong relationship, but if its just because he plays in that country, I don't think its justifiable and as I said it is like undermining your own country in which you are playing for.

And as for the Ghanian apology, it states "even-handed diplomacy". Which means to me that Ghana was just saying "look guys we are not taking sides here"...thats all.

 

[Slagathor]

Well in Rafael's case it is totally understandable because he has a strong relationship, but if its just because he plays in that country, I don't think its justifiable and as I said it is like undermining your own country in which you are playing for.

Well that's completely personal. Maybe he's come to regard Israel as his second home because the people there were extremely hospitable and nice to him and this is his way of saying thanks.

In either case it doesn't have anything to do with Arab states. Nothing whatsoever.

And as for the Ghanian apology, it states "even-handed diplomacy". Which means to me that Ghana was just saying "look guys we are not taking sides here"...thats all.

Their foreign minister said:

"The government of Ghana deeply regrets this act by one of our citizens,"

and that's a quote, according to the article. That ain't neutral or even-handed. That's biting the dust.

 

[gray]

It's a nation's flag... why is that offensive?

It's not like it was meant as a political statement. This is political correctness gone wrong

 

[Il Re]

what a joke, i cant believe such a fuss is being made over nothing

 

[Geof]

In the worst case, maybe te player could have apologised for his own supporters: "This victory is for Ghana, I love my country, blablabla".

But a minister apologising to Arab diplomats isn't really neutral, is it?

 

[ReBeL]

People like ReBel should be killed. The world would be a better place.

What a classy post...

 

[Rami]

Well that's completely personal. Maybe he's come to regard Israel as his second home because the people there were extremely hospitable and nice to him and this is his way of saying thanks.

In either case it doesn't have anything to do with Arab states. Nothing whatsoever.

As I said, and this is of course only my opinion, if you don't have a very strong relationship with that country i.e blood, such act is just undermining your country. I am not talking about the Ghanian player here, but in general. If you feel such a strong bond with that country, go play for it, don't undermine the shirt you are playing for!

Their foreign minister said:

"The government of Ghana deeply regrets this act by one of our citizens,"

and that's a quote, according to the article. That ain't neutral or even-handed. That's biting the dust.

Well Erik we live in an interwined and inter-dependent world, its just politics. I sincerly doubt that the foriegn minister really "deeply regreted". Why would I want to get on the bad side of Arab countries because of an overzelous player that might not have thought about the reprecussions of his actions. Now I am not saying that the Arab objection is justified, but have the player asked himself "is there a slight possiblity that I could get my country in trouble?", he wouldnt have gone ahead with it.

 

[JCK]

What a classy post...

I thought you left the forum.

 

[ReBeL]

I thought you left the forum.

You can't expect me not to reply to somebody who calls for killing me...

 

[Rami]

In the worst case, maybe te player could have apologised for his own supporters: "This victory is for Ghana, I love my country, blablabla".

But a minister apologising to Arab diplomats isn't really neutral, is it?

Well lets just imagine Mario Kempes waived the Soviet's Union flag after scoring his first goal against Holland in 78, could you honestly say that the Argentinian foreign minister wouldn't have appologized? It's all politics guys!