Chief Executive of England’s Football Association Lumps Together Star of David With Swastika
David Lange
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Looks like foot-in-mouth disease is going strong in the land that suffered previously from Mad Cows.
The chief executive of England’s Football Association, Martin Glenn, faced criticism from a leading member of Britain’s Jewish community after saying the Star of David was “something we don’t want” in soccer along with the swastika.
Simon Johnson, the chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council and himself a former director of corporate affairs at the FA, said Glenn’s comments were “offensive and inappropriate.”
Glenn’s remarks came as he tried to justify the FA’s decision to charge Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola for wearing a yellow ribbon in support of jailed Catalan independence leaders.
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“We have rewritten Law 4 of the game so that things like a poppy are OK but things that are going to be highly divisive are not,” Glenn was quoted as saying in several British national newspapers.
“That could be strong religious symbols, it could be the Star of David, it could the hammer and sickle, it could be a swastika, anything like (former Zimbabwe President) Robert Mugabe on your shirt — these are the things we don’t want.
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“I have no problem with The FA clarifying Rule 4 and specifying that ALL religious symbols are prohibited on a kit if that is the case,” Johnson tweeted.
“But in explaining that decision, the CEO of The FA’s examples are ill judged and in poor taste.”
Johnson, the chief executive of England’s failed bid to stage the 2018 World Cup, added: “The Star of David is a Jewish religious symbol of immense importance to Jews worldwide. To put it in the same bracket as the swastika and Robert Mugabe is offensive and inappropriate.”
Note how he did not mention the Crescent Moon as one of his examples. Because then heads would really roll.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d guess he is gunning for Jeremy Corbyn’s job as leader of Britain’s Labour party.
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David Lange
