Saudi Soccer Team's Callous Disrespect for Victims of Terrorism

Let’s take a moment away from the Comey testimony back-and-forth in order to be appropriately disgusted by this.

On June 7, Australia faced off against Saudi Arabia in the World Cup soccer qualifying match.

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The game was coming on the heels of the June 3 terror attack on the London Bridge.

Asian Football Confederation officials approved a minute of silence for the victims of the attack. It’s the civil, compassionate thing to do, right?

The Saudi team rejected the request.

An entire stadium of Australian soccer fans watched Thursday as Saudis took their positions during a minute of reverence for those who perished last week’s London Bridge massacre. A Fox Sports announcer said after the World Cup qualifying match that Saudi officials rebuffed the request.

There was even a report that the Australian team tried to reason with them, but they wouldn’t have it.

“Both the AFC and the Saudi team agreed that the minute of silence could be held,” the spokesman said. “The FFA was further advised by Saudi team officials that this tradition was not in keeping with Saudi culture and they would move to their side of the field and respect our custom whilst taking their own positions on the field.”

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According to those watching, the Saudi team paced, stretched, and jogged in place.

No, that’s not disrespectful, at all.

The incident echoed a November 2015 incident in Turkey that involved nearly 20,000 booing fans at Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium during a moment of silence for the 130 people killed during terror attacks in Paris.

One viewer pointed out how we’re always asked to respect Muslim culture, but when the shoe is on the other foot, well…

It’s times like these that I’m glad I’m not a soccer fan.

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