Premier League - Zaki snubs Pompey over Israel

Eurosport - Mon, 23 Nov 13:08:00 2009

Egyptian striker Amr Zaki has controversially ruled out a move to Portsmouth because the club counts two Israelis and an Algerian among its staff.

Amr Zaki, Egypt
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Zaki, back at Zamalek in his home country after an eye-catching season on loan at Wigan last term, was a target for Premier League strugglers Pompey.

But the 26-year-old revealed he refused an offer to play at Fratton Park because Israeli defender Tal Ben Haim and director of football Avram Grant are employees at the club.

Although Egypt was the first Arab nation to officially recognise Israel as a state in 1979 following the Camp David Peace Accords of the previous year, there are many in the Muslim community who still disapprove of its existence.

The striker has also taken issue with the presence of Belhadj, who was part of the Algeria side that beat Egypt in their highly-charged World Cup play-off last week.

Zaki said on the Arabic version of his official website: "I refused their offer before, but now joining Portsmouth is no longer an option for me.

"After Portsmouth signed an Israeli player and also hired an Israeli football director a possible move was ruled out.

"On top of that, no way could I play at Portsmouth with an Algerian within in their ranks."

Zaki, who scored nine goals in his first 13 matches for Wigan before loss of form and disciplinary problems curtailed his performances, had been earmarked by Pompey director Sulaiman Al-Fahim as the man to fire the club to Premier League safety.

Al-Fahim said: "He loves Portsmouth. He calls me almost every week and he wants to be part of the Portsmouth team."

Eurosport

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  1. wla yali esmak estopera 89 enta­ ...
    adiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik ta7t dilak :D !!!!

    From tifa_1818, on Mon 21 Dec 9:58PM
  2. To those who responded to my comments: I am not Jewish­ (neither my wife), but am student of history. I do not­ deny that Israel never made mistakes - which government­ or people never did? Yet mistakes are not war crimes.­ Only the Jews are being demonised for what they are­ accused of doing. Jewish settlers from 1880 bought land­ nobody wanted while Palestine was under Ottoman rule.­ The majority of inhabitants of Jerusalem since the­ yearly census from 1880, also showed a Jewish majority.­ There has been some minor displacement by Arabs but­ never in the scale the Muslim intelligensia wants us to­ believe, and at the hands of Britain, not the Jews. The­ Jews didn't get their land because of the­ Holocaust, but because of security reasons after nearly­ 2,000 years of persecution, plunderings, and­ displacement. I certainly have lot of sympathy for the­ Palestinian civilians - as I also stated - but I cannot­ accept the hateful ideology of the Arab leaders who­ don't want and never will accept a Jewish state­ where it is now and who misused their own people for­ their aims, those who value ideology above human life.­ I hate nobody, but I disagree with those who do wrong,­ no matter who they are. Please, guys, be fair to what I­ am saying and do not misinterpret another person's­ opinion - that would be illegitimate argumentation. I­ seek to understand your point and assess it as good as­ I can; I hope to get the same in response.

    From gordon.merk, on Sat 5 Dec 2:34PM
  3. woooow 3mr zaki you are amazinggggg wa all thought that­ no one longer cares about the palestenen issue but you­ are realllly a man
    and about these psycos saying­ anything about how mad u r jst ignore them you­ don't have to answer such pathetatic comments­ :)))
    and thanx alot from all egyptians about that pig­ from algeria gooo ya 3mr wa are all behind you ya man­ :DDDDDDDD

    From moha_n90, on Sat 5 Dec 9:13AM
  4. aww tifo.. you are PATHETIC !!
    1) I'm NOT a­ Portsmouth fan.. I'm commenting on this article­ just because the dirty zaki's says drive me CRAZY..­ I HATE RACISTS.
    2) I answered you, because I HATE­ PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THEMSELVES THE BEST and in REALITY ,­ THEY ARE NOTHING JUST LIKE YOU EGYPTIANS !!
    3) I MUST­ TELL YOU THAT WE LEARNT YOUR SONG "WE BEAT­ ITALY" BY HEART lol YOU DON'T HAVE TO REMIND­ ME LOL.. BUT,HEY, HOW COME THAT YOU BEAT WORLD­ CHAMPIONS AND YOU DIDN'T MANAGE TO BEAT SMALL AND­ POOR TEAMS LIKE ALGERIA (twice),... THAT STRANGE­ NO??
    4) I ADVICE YOU TO GO TO A PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL­ 'CAUSE YOU ARE MENTALLY SICK (or RETARDED) HAHAHAHA­ !!
    BYE HONEY !!

    From estopera89, on Mon 30 Nov 10:42PM
  5. btw those were frendly matches ... jst see who was the­ 3rd in world cup for clubs last year .. or u kan watch­ egypt which was the champion of africa for 2 consective­ timez and see our match aganist brazil and itali in­ confedrations cup 09... and abt world cup u better­ watch our match with algeria ... i bet u ll enjoy their­ kind of football

    or shall we talk abt the poor­ sympathetic portsmouth .. 5-0 from birmigham or 4-0­ from the blues ... or the big hounor 10-0 from *­ leicseter city *
    nut even a premier league club­ :D:D:D... u really made me laugh .. we have beaten­ world cup champions * itali * .. we dunn even want a­ world cup .. lol

    anyway , go f**k urself with ur­ mentali retarded killers zehointists , which i think u­ are really proud of them AND IF U WANT SOME MORE ,,JST­ TRY 2 TALK ABT EGYPT .. u dirty racist !!

    From tifa_1818, on Mon 30 Nov 5:08PM
  6. I would like to tell tifa 18 something : " YOU­ SUCK WITH YOUR EGYPT... "
    If the so-called­ egyptian players are excellent as you pretend, why­ aren't they qualified to the 2010 world cup?
    Why­ the stupid team of al-ahly was thrashed by Barcelona­ (5-0) and (4-1) and by Celtic (5-0) hahaha..
    You should­ be ashamed pf your team lol

    From estopera89, on Mon 30 Nov 12:45AM
  7. HOW DARE U TALK ABT EGYPT !! .. really u made me sick ,­ i wont say anythng about u except that ur a true­ iggnorant because u no nothing going in this world­ around u ,, i doubt that u even knw frm where iz ur­ origins ..
    those 2 true egyptain players where the 2nd­ and 3rd best players in africa after adebayor last year­ .. i believe u knew how iggnorant 2 talk abt those­ algerians or israeli players to be better ..
    man i­ cant believe u this is a last place league club .. jst­ some losers trying to survive ,, there iz no comparison­ .. idiot
    and one last thing , this is football i dont­ argue but,AMR ZAKI is a human with certain point of­ view, AND WE ARE IN A FREE WORLD DUDE ..unless u­ werent
    DONT EVER TRY TALK ABT EGYPT .. WHO DO U THINK­ URSLEF ...U F**K**G MORAN

    From tifa_1818, on Sun 29 Nov 3:18AM
  8. What a dirty Racist !!! Does he think he's a good­ player ?? lol he's JUST an idiot loser! Israelis­ and Algerians in Portsmouth won't die if you­ don't play in their team.. lol
    I'm not a­ Portsmouth fan, but I really hate racists and­ anti-semitic losers like this one! Tal,Nadir and yebda­ are much better than you!
    I wonder why this f***ing­ egyptians mix football with politics !! There was­ another egyptian player who did a stupid thing in a­ match: abutrika when he showed his T-shirt (sympthize­ with gaza) WE MUSTN'T INVOLVE POLITICS IN SPORTS!!!­
    ZAKI HAVE TO BE PUNISHED for his comments!!

    From estopera89, on Sat 28 Nov 2:39PM
  9. Gordon Merk... I think I know your type now. You got­ me fooled for a while, but you are just another one of­ those pro-zionist living in Denial and can't face­ Israel's ugly truth. So the Jews have been­ away for 2000 years and then after what Europeans done­ to them they decide it is time to go back to the middle­ east ... and that is their God given right? And the­ hell with the people who lived their! Yeah it is all­ the Arab leaders fault... and your calling me­ ignorant?

    From iia_26, on Thu 26 Nov 4:32AM
  10. to gordon.merk
    jews flood to palestine from the start­ of the century, they started to buy land .. then they­ forced the civilians who refused the land to buy it­ (with the full support of british army) ... then in­ 1948 they announced the birth of their nation called­ israel ... which is an occupation .... i know u'll­ not accept what i wrote .. but this is history ... and­ please no one say me its not about religion .... its­ all about religion ... israel is a nation of jews ...­ judaism is a religion ... so muslims (not only arabs)­ are defending the land ... its not politics .. its all­ about religion

    From Tarek E, on Tue 24 Nov 3:59PM
  11. by the way, i have nothing against the jews,judasim or­ israel. but i hate extremism and terrorism­ everywhere,in islam, christianity, judaism, hindu etc.­ i dont want anyone calling me anti-semit.

    From bigdaddyhell, on Tue 24 Nov 2:05PM
  12. gordon.merk. couldnt agree more with you regarding­ israel right to exist. however, where is your sympathy­ towards the palestinian kicked out of their land not in­ 1948 but in 1967. why do israel occupy there land and­ refuse to give it back eventhough there are un­ resolutions. gaza was given by the israelis with all­ the settlements in them which mind illegal and not the­ west bank. where were the israelis before the belofur­ decelaration. why do western governements support arab­ dictators if they are allies to the west. why when­ danish and ducth had the cartoons and movies against­ muslims, that was called freddom of speech and zaki­ denied that same right.
    if you can answer any of­ these questions, i will be happy to read them. (please­ i dont want to read "the issue is­ complicated" and find no answers)

    From bigdaddyhell, on Tue 24 Nov 1:55PM
  13. i have a friend who is egyptian muslim like me ... ha­ is resident on UK ... he has applied on a job ... he­ passed all the tests ... the last interview was a­ jewish UK employee .... the jewish provoked him and did­ not give him the job ....

    all jews hate muslims ...­ and israelis are killing our children ... all other­ westerns are ignorant .. and care only for sex,­ football, money .... they know nothing about us (arabs­ muslims) ... they know what jew media want them to know

    From Tarek E, on Tue 24 Nov 11:56AM
  14. WTF .... all those who insulted Zaki, Egypt, Arabs­ & Muslims are the true racist, the man has an­ ideology ... and he is free to play wherever he want­ ... he did not insult anybody ... he just want to proof­ a point .... he doesn't want to participate any­ kind of life with people who killed children, women and­ old men ... people who ocupied our land more than 60­ years ago ... so f**k off with ur football ... he knows­ the consequences (never to play again on Premier­ league) and he accept it ... so leave the guy alone­ ...

    Ghandi was resisting the british occupation by­ negative-resist ... he did not buy or sell from them­ ... its a principal showed his rejection to the­ occupation

    Zaki is doing the same ... so continue­ playing your football and leave him alone

    Arabs,­ Muslims Egyptians whatever u call us will never ever­ rest unless all israelis depart from our land palestine­ ... i do not care whatever u'll comment on my­ comment

    From Tarek E, on Tue 24 Nov 11:51AM
  15. zaki is speaking frankly, that's why he is a­ monster

    From ibrahim z, on Tue 24 Nov 11:50AM
  16. well ... i dunn thnk dat a world class player like amr­ zaki .. will choose a last place minor club even if itz­ in the premier league .. and leave a major and famous ­ club in africa and egypt like zamalek from which every­ body knew him at the beginging

    addin that he will play­ with israeli players whom represnt those killers in­ israeli and that idiot evram grant who was 2 lucki to­ enter a club like chelsea .. and he was 2 to be only­ kicked out .. :D
    and those ignorants whom kall­ themseleves arabs .. i dunn thnk soo !! .. they even­ dont speak arabic .. they are nuthin more than crimnals­ , and if no one belive egyptians about what happened­ in sudan ... well see their match with france a couple­ of yearz agoo and their celeberations in their own­ country nut in other countri .. they even kill and­ injuri themselves when they are celeberatin what would­ have they done if they lost .. fourtanly .. egypt ,­ sudan and france we luckii to be safe from those­ ignroants and crimnals

    ps . i have nothing aganist­ jews .. i jst hate israeli for what they are doing to­ palestine

    From tifa_1818, on Tue 24 Nov 11:43AM
  17. For the love of all that is holy i have never read such­ anti-semitic comments on a message board for soccer­ ever. If you are one of these hate-mongers, go back to­ your holy books and keep your bigoted, racist opinions­ to yourself. No, I am not Jewish and they don't­ need me to defend them but you people just make me sick­ - grow up!!!

    From JohnN, on Tue 24 Nov 11:33AM
  18. gordon, i bet you are one of the jews. or your­ girlfriend is a jew. or somebody close to you is a jew.­ have you been taught of why muslims hate jewish so­ much? you better read back history or don't ever­ blast anybody in here because of their hatred. by the­ way, for your information jews doesn't back you up­ unless you are a jew yourself. get that into your head­ right away.

    From afiq a, on Tue 24 Nov 10:59AM
  19. 196: well said!

    From gordon.merk, on Tue 24 Nov 10:43AM
  20. Simply, if someone applied for a job in 'free'­ country and was not offered this job on grounds of­ being Egyptian and/or muslim, he/she would have­ rightfully taken the company to court and would likely­ win the case. In this case, it's sort of reversed,­ so Zaki should be somehow 'disciplined' for­ this. 40 hits by belt sounds ok?

    From Baywatch, on Tue 24 Nov 10:41AM
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