Arab fans mock German mouth-to-mouth gesture with Ozil posters – what’s behind Infantino moves from Zurich to Zug – he now pays half the tax

After the dispute with FIFA over the ban on the “One Love” bracelet, the German internationals protested with a symbolic gesture in their first World Cup match against Japan before kick-off. They held their hands in front of their faces in the mandatory pre-match photo – they were not allowed to speak as FIFA does not tolerate any political statement or statement, according to the statement.

In the Germans’ second game, fans dressed in Arabic imitated the gesture. They also showed posters of former German international Mesut Özil.

Why Ozil? The former Real Madrid and Arsenal midfielder resigned from the national team in 2018 after the German team’s embarrassing World Cup elimination in Russia.

In the run-up to the 2018 World Cup, Ozil, who is of Turkish origin, provided background noise around the DFB team by meeting Turkish ruler Erdogan in London and having himself photographed.

Due to the human rights situation in Turkey and the military action of the Erdogan government against the Kurds, the photo caused outrage in Germany. Ozil is accused of supporting a misanthropic regime and of identifying more with Turkey than with Germany.

Özil then justified the photo, describing it as the “right decision”. He also justified his resignation after the World Cup with, among other things, a lack of respect and support from the German federation and a lack of public appreciation. “I am German when I win and an immigrant when I lose,” the 34-year-old wrote on Instagram at the time.

The German players – Ilkay Gündogan, who was still active in the national team, also posed with Erdogan – were publicly criticized for the photo by then DFB chairman Reinhard Grindel.

While Gündogan then distanced himself from a political message in the photo and tried to take the explosiveness out of the case with soothing words, Ozil once again fed the critical voices against him when he got married in Istanbul in 2019 and Erdogan was his best man.

One explanation for the imitation of gestures by Arab fans in Qatar is the accusation of double standards and hypocrisy against Germany – that political views such as Ozil’s are criticized or even suppressed there if they are not acceptable.

There were and are countless voices from Germany criticizing the situation in World Cup host Qatar for its human rights record, deaths of guest workers during the construction of the stadium, the repression of the LGBTIQ+ community or the curtailment of press freedom – so it would be a simple tit -for-tat-act can be.

Another highly questionable allegation circulating on social media is that Germany silenced Ozil when he publicly spoke out in favor of the Uyghur Muslim minority, which is severely oppressed in China. However, this is not the truth.

Ozil was heavily criticized by China and his former club Arsenal also issued a statement that they distanced themselves from the player’s statements and that this was Ozil’s personal opinion. Critics subsequently accused Arsenal of acting opportunistically as the London team has proven to have major economic interests in China.

However, from Germany, Ozil was not criticized for the statements about China – so what Germany and the German Football Association have to do with the Uyghur issue remains the secret of the commentators.

Makes little sense: a cartoon circulating on social media.