A soul in France or UK doesn’t matter more than a soul in Gaza or Lebanon: Ex-footballer

By Alireza Akbari 

A former Lebanese footballer has condemned the glaring double standards and selective outrage by the international sports community over attacks on athletes in Lebanon and Gaza.

In an interview with the Press TV website on Monday, Assile Toufaily, who is now based in France and writes about football, addressed the lack of attention to a recent attack on a Lebanese footballer.

"A soul in France or the UK does not matter more than a soul in Palestine and Lebanon," she said.

Celine Haider, a member of the Lebanese football team, was grievously injured in an Israeli missile attack on the Lebanese capital Beirut earlier this week and is currently hospitalized. 

The attack targeted the Beirut suburb of Chiyah on Saturday where Haider and her family live.

“I would have loved to see a bit more of like just compassion or sorts of support," said Toufaily, while expressing disappointment over the deafening silence of international sports governing bodies.

Despite images of Haidar circulating online with everyone wishing for her recovery, the silence from international sporting bodies and the broader sports community "bothered" Tufaily.    

“I know that players might have, or might face some pressure not to talk about or like share their opinions on this ( Haidar’s case). Many clubs' restrictions, federations' restrictions, maybe even sponsor restrictions or sponsor obligations she told the Press TV website. 

“For athletes in Lebanon, you have to know that sports in Lebanon is kind of at pause now, like it's freezing… We are not doing anything. There are no competitions organized. The Football Federation stopped the league, the basketball federation as well… So, for the past two, three months it's been zero activity in the sports sector.”      

Tufaily, who represented Lebanon for five years (2013-2018), also drew a parallel between the ban imposed on Russia from international sports competitions following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and inaction over the genocidal war on Gaza and Lebanon

“The moment the war started between Ukraine and Russia, it only took FIFA and UEFA a week to ban or even a few days to ban in Russia. Israel just played (against) France and Belgium as if nothing is happening so there’s no sense in this," she told the Press TV website.

Following the attack on Haider, Toufaily took to X, formerly Twitter, to share her frustrations.

“These past two years, I managed to develop my network and work as a freelance women's football journalist. I interviewed a bunch of players, some of whom were people I looked up to growing up. I was happy to be contributing to the development of women's football,” she wrote.

“But recently, everything had drastically evaporated. I've had enough of giving the players more spotlight and talking about their accomplishments on and off the pitch while my own people are getting killed and my country is being shattered apart with 0 reaction from these players.”

Toufaily further said she has fewer expectations from male footballers to break their silence on genocidal attacks in Lebanon and Gaza but is surprised by the silence of female footballers.

“I don’t expect male footballers to have any sort of reactions, the majority is a lost case for me…But I had hoped that it was different for female footballers. The community is different; players are often more vocal about such issues, yet their silence is VERY LOUD.”

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Toufaily said some players spend hours talking about gender pay, discrimination, minorities' rights, racism, and sexism, but when it's a Lebanese or Palestinian girl or boy killed by the Israeli regime, they "disappear and their voices are nowhere to be heard.”

Toufaily again took to X on Tuesday to highlight how the sports community in Lebanon has been "heavily affected this past year" amid relentless attacks. 

She listed the names of at least 14 Lebanese athletes martyred in 2024, including Hassan Fadlallah, Mohammad Kanj, Malek Al-Moussawi, and Mohammed Ahmad Al-Khashen.

More than 3,400 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon over the last year, with the vast majority in the past several weeks. Over 14, 600 have been wounded, mostly women and children.

According to UNICEF, more than 200 children are among the victims in Lebanon in less than two months since the Israeli regime escalated its deadly offensive against the Arab country. 

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk