Saudi Arabia footballers refuse silence for London attack victims
Trumps $110 billion arms deal with Muslim Saudi Arabia is the biggest arms deal in world history and threatens Israel’s safety. Now this shows how dangerous it really is.
Saudi Arabia’s national football team have been criticized for failing to observe a minute’s silence held before Thursday’s match against Australia in Adelaide.
The Socceroos lined up in the centre of the pitch before the World Cup qualifier and held the brief silence as a tribute to the two Australians killed in the terrorist attack in London at the weekend. As they did so, the Saudi Arabia team continued jogging, passing the ball between each other and taking their positions on the field. Pictures from the match show a single Saudi player, Salman al-Faraj, appearing to stand facing the Australia team with his hands behind his back.
Adam Peacock, a presenter with Fox Sports Australia, said on Twitter the Asian Football Confederation has approved the minute’s silence against the wishes of travelling Saudi officials. He said the Football Federation of Australia “tried to reason” with the Saudis but were unable to persuade them to participate in the tribute.
… Another image appeared to show a domestic Saudi team, al-Ahli Saudi FC, standing for a minute’s silence before a Qatar [a country that supports Hamas terrorists] Airways Cup match against Barcelona in December 2016.
