..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...-led onslaught that recently drew public attention.
The German second-division club Fortuna Dusseldorf had been close to bringing Weissman onto the team, according to Hebrew media reports, but said earlier today that it had concluded these efforts.
"We’ve looked into signing Shon Weissman intensively, but have ultimately decided against signing him," the soccer club’s X account stated, without offering further details.
The announcement came hours after the club appeared to defend Weissman, telling one fan who opposed signing him that it would not make a decision "based on a Wikipedia article."
The Haaretz newspaper reports, however, that fans had pressured the club to drop its pursuit of Weissman and signed an online petition against the move after unearthing his old social media posts, which it says had been featured in his English-language Wikipedia page.
The Wikipedia page has since been edited by someone whom Wikipedia says appears to have a "close connection" with Weissman, and the social media posts removed.
According to Haaretz, a controversial post in question, published just days after October 7, had asked: "What’s the logical reason that 200-ton bombs haven’t been dropped on Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
yet?"
The Israeli soccer player had also shared posts calling to "wipe Gaza off the map" and claiming there were "no innocents" in the Strip, Haaretz reports.
Weissman responds to Fortuna Dusseldorf’s decision in a post on Instagram, in which he asserts that the fans had been lacking "the full context" of his posts.
"I am a son of a nation still grieving from the horrors of October 7th," he writes. "That black day, when entire families were murdered, kidnapped, and brutalized, remains an open wound for me as a person, as a member of an Israeli family, and as an athlete representing my country."
"It’s both possible and necessary to oppose harm to innocent people on both sides but I won’t allow myself to be painted as someone who promoted hate," he writes, adding that those who suggest otherwise "should take another look at what happened on October 7th."
"While I accept all criticism, it pains me that the full context was not considered," Weissman adds, vowing that he will "continue to proudly carry the Israeli flag wherever I play."