🚨🗣️New: Luis Suárez reacts to Uruguay’s arrival in the United States for the World Cup, where the squad faced sniffer dogs and rigorous security checks:
“I’ve been in football a long time, and I’ve seen tournaments all over the world. But what we’re witnessing here with the USA hosting this World Cup is deeply concerning. Take the Uruguay team arriving — world-class players like Manuel Ugarte, standing there with arms folded, looking utterly bewildered as sniffer dogs go through their bags like they’re common criminals. That image says it all. These are ambassadors of the game, not suspects at the border.
This isn’t hospitality; it’s humiliation dressed up as security. You’ve got a Somali referee, one of Africa’s best, denied entry despite a valid visa — a man who dreamed of officiating at the pinnacle of his career, turned away at the airport. African and South American delegations facing extra screenings, visa chaos for fans and officials from qualified nations. This is the ‘land of the free’ rolling out the red carpet? It feels more like a fortress with razor wire.
The beautiful game deserves better than being turned into a political football or a paranoid checkpoint. FIFA chased the dollars — and there are billions to be made, no doubt — but they’ve sold the soul of the tournament to a host that treats global football stars and supporters like potential threats. Meanwhile, American taxpayers and host cities are left holding a bill running into hundreds of millions for security and logistics that FIFA largely pockets.
Football has always been about unity, passion, and bringing people together across borders. Right now, under this hosting, it’s being strangled by suspicion and overreach. The world is watching these scenes and cringing. If this continues, it risks leaving a bitter taste that lingers far longer than any on-pitch glory. We needed a celebration of the game — not a showcase of division. Something has to change.”
“If I must die, you must live to tell my story” - Palestinian poet Refaat Al Areer.
Israel killed Refaat on this day, 7 December, a year ago.
Refaat was also an academic, teaching English at one of the universities destroyed by #Israel.
“If I must die, let it bring hope, let it be a tale.”
Reading by British Actor Brian Cox.
@Jaime_Resendez Our MIA Mayor has betrayed he wife, children, friends and this city. Let’s hope he gets what he wants and will be off to trump world, he will fit right in.
@wfaa Our MIA Mayor has betrayed he wife, children, friends and this city. Let’s hope he gets what he wants and will be off to trump world, he will fit right in.
Israel is hellbent on taking N. Gaza. The IDF burns, destroys, and razes every building after pushing out the Palestinians it does not kill or bury inside the rubble. No war crime like it has occurred anywhere since WW2. And the US-EU look on...
https://t.co/UhCsZxunOB
I never turn a blind eye to war crimes. Whomever commits them: https://t.co/RK8aIsW6Fh Nb. No war crimes since 1945 are comparable to what is happening in Gaza now.