Israellycool reader Joseph writes to me about a curious incident at the World Cup:
…..when Ghana won, one of the Ghanian players pulled out an Israeli flag and waved it all around on his victory run…I did not see this game due to the Jewish Sabbath, so I did some detective work, and managed to find proof of what Joseph was referring to, in the form of the following picture and caption:
Ghana’s Sulley Ali Muntari (C) celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal against the Czech Republic with team mates as Ghana’s John Painstil (R) holds an Israeli flag during their Group E World Cup 2006 soccer match in Cologne June 17, 2006. Painstil plays for Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv. REUTERS/Albert Gea
I like how the Reuters man added in an explanation for the flag – in case you G-d forbid thought that Painstil was displaying it in a sign of solidarity with Israel.
Update: More reader power! Brian from London notes that 3 Ghanan players play club football in Israel. Golda would be proud.
Update: Now the Jerusalem Post have a story on Painstil’s gesture, but do not really shed any light as to whether he did it as a sign of solidarity with Israel, or just for his Hapoel Tel Aviv teammates.
Sources at Hapoel Tel Aviv disclosed later that the Ghanaian international had promised to perform the act if his team scored in the World Cup.
