Sport Ahmed Mansour
“FC Bayern is not on Israel’s side”
As of: 2:31 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
Disappointed by FC Bayern’s reaction: extremism researcher Ahmad Mansour
Quelle: picture alliance/Hasan Bratic
Ahmad Mansour is an author and supporter of FC Bayern. His club’s treatment of player Mazraoui and his Instagram post after the Hamas terrorist attack permanently disrupted his fan life. He misses attitude and a clear commitment from the record champions.
Bayern star Noussair Mazraoui’s pro-Palestinian post on Instagram following Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel continues to stir up emotions. Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews, demanded “visibly harsh consequences” from the club against the Moroccan international. Alon Meyer, the president of Makkabi Germany, criticizes Bavaria’s handling of the Mazraoui case as “absolutely out of the question and unacceptable.”
A conversation with Ahmad Mansour (47), the well-known German-Israeli psychologist and author of Arab-Palestinian origin – and fan of FC Bayern.
Ask: Mr. Mansour, how do you rate FC Bayern’s handling of the Mazraoui case?
Ahmad Mansour: I am very disappointed with the reaction of FC Bayern and Mazraouis. The player serves as a role model for millions of young people. He neither fulfilled this function with his dangerous post, which has an impact on an entire generation, nor afterwards.
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Ask: What do you accuse FC Bayern of not calling Mazraoui in for a report?
Mansour: I remind you of the case of Joshua Kimmich, who refused to be vaccinated against Corona. What an outcry there was and what pressure the club put on him to get vaccinated. I miss this pressure in the Mazraoui case. I also miss clarity from the other players.
Mazraoui dispute: How should a club deal with such behavior from a player?
Source: Getty Images/Alexander Hassenstein
Ask: What do you mean?
Mansour: I’ll take Leon Goretzka as an example. He positions himself very clearly in the fight against right-wing extremism. But where is he now? I haven’t heard anything from him about Mazraoui either.
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Ask: Do you, like Josef Schuster, expect Mazraoui to be sanctioned after all?
Mansour: I can understand Josef Schuster’s request very well. I don’t want to think about a penalty, I expect clarity – from the player and the club, especially given the history of FC Bayern. This clarity is missing.
Ask: They allude to the fact that FC Bayern had a Jewish president in Kurt Landauer before and after the Second World War, whom the club and its organized fans still commemorate…
Mansour: We have been hearing Sunday speeches about anti-Semitism for years, not just in sports: Never again and so on. Now is the time to take a stand and act. It is all the more disappointing that FC Bayern and its officials, who always gave these Sunday speeches, behave like this. Now that a specific case has arisen, when things get tough, they have to take action.
Ask: How are Bayern behaving?
Mansour: Without clarity and without being on the side of the Jews and Israel.
Ask: Do you therefore support Alon Meyer’s sharp criticism of FC Bayern and Mazraoui, whose statement contains neither an apology nor a word about Israel and the 1,400 victims of the attack nor a distancing from the terrorist organization Hamas?
Mansour: I agree with Alon Meyer’s every word 100 percent!
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Ask: As a fan, is your relationship with FC Bayern changing now?
Mansour: Yes. I watched the Champions League game in Istanbul and noticed that an emotional distance had emerged from the team I loved so much. This is also the case with some friends of mine in Berlin, who are also Jews and Bayern fans and are deeply disappointed.
Ask: Do you think many Bayern fans will feel the same way now?
Mansour: I think so. And I hope that the Bayern fans in the stadium will take a clearer stance than the officials and players.
The interview was conducted for the Sports Competence Center (WELT, SPORT BILD, BILD) and first published in SPORT BILD.
