A report on a German TV channel comparing the Moroccan national team’s index-raising to what ISIS is doing has sparked both angry and sarcastic reactions among social media activists in the Arab and Western worlds.
The German channel Welt has launched an attack on the Moroccan national team due to the image of 3 players who raised their index fingers in the locker room to celebrate the victory. The German broadcaster said: This is maddening and provocative, this is the sign of terrorist organization (ISIS).
The channel has tried to send a message that they are terrorists, not football players. pic.twitter.com/e4c8Vtz0Dp
– Iyad Al-Hamoud (@Eyaaaad) December 14, 2022
The service of the German channel WELT compared an image in which the players of the Moroccan national team, Abdel Hamid Al-Sabri, Zakaria Abu Khalil and Elias Al-Shaer, raise their index fingers upwards in the dressing room, and images of ISIS, considering it maddening.
“This is maddening and provocative, this is the sign of the terrorist organization,” the channel’s news anchor said, as the German channel showed images of ISIS fighters wagging their index fingers.
On the other hand, tweeters and activists on communication sites rejected the German channel’s report and mocked it with images of players from all clubs and teams pointing their fingers up, such as Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and even the Brazilian Ronaldo.
Rather, the irony of the channel’s reporting has gone so far as to publish images of European officials and presidents during their meetings or statements to the press waving their fingers, such as US President Joe Biden and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
