Israel-Hamas war: Sonny Bill Williams causes outrage after weighing in on war in Middle East

NZ Herald

9 Oct, 2023 04:35 AM5 mins to read

Former All Black Sonny Bill Williams. Photo / Getty

Sonny Bill Williams has sparked outrage after sharing a social media post likening Hamas militants to freedom fighters in the same way Ukranian forces are acting following Russia’s invasion.

The cross-code athlete shared an X (formerly Twitter) post from American law professor Khaled Beydon that said Ukrainian civilians defending their families were called freedom fighters but Palestinians in Gaza doing the “exact same thing” were being called terrorists. Williams’ post included a “100 per cent” and a praying emoji.

Over the weekend, Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of fighters into Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip in an unprecedented surprise early morning attack during a major Jewish holiday, killing dozens and stunning the country. Israel said it is now at war with Hamas and launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to make Hamas pay an “unprecedented price”.

Williams’ post has more than 12,000 likes and has been viewed over 730,000 times. However, it has created a stir, sparking an angry response from some users asking for it to be removed from the platform.

One user commented: “Killing civilians on the streets, taking women and children hostage is not the act of a freedom fighter. They are crimes under international law and deserve to be seen as such. That stipulation applies to all countries! You do not have to favour one side or the other on this…”

Another said: “Over 250 bodies at the Music Festival for Peace. And you support that? Ukrainians aren’t attacking civilians. Palestinians are.”

One person wrote: “Saw that clip of the naked, broken girl paraded around on the back of a truck. Is that what you are defending?”

And another added: “Given that there’s a lot of footage of Hamas slaughtering innocent civilians, you should be ashamed of supporting their actions.”

But there were many comments in support of Williams, saying things like: “Double standards and hypocrisy.”

Another in support said: “Well said my brother, Palestine will be free, inshallah. The people of Palestine have had to put up with this for 75 years - they finally stood up and said enough is enough. Alhamdulillah, victory will be for Palestine.”

And one person said: “Respect you even more.”

In 2021, Williams called for a boycott of the Winter Olympics in China over the treatment of the Uighur ethnic minority in the northwest of the country. The region’s Muslim community has been the target of human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party.

The Israeli government formally declared war on Sunday and gave the green light for “significant military steps” to retaliate against Hamas for its surprise attack, as the military tried to crush fighters still in southern towns and intensified its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The death toll passed 1,100 and thousands were wounded on both sides.

More than 24 hours after Hamas launched its unprecedented incursion out of Gaza, Israeli forces were still trying to defeat the last groups of militants holed up in several towns. At least 700 people have reportedly been killed in Israel — a staggering toll on a scale the country has not experienced in decades — and more than 400 have been killed in Gaza as Israeli airstrikes pound the territory.

PRAYING FOR GAZA!! 🇵🇸
— Sonny Bill Williams (@SonnyBWilliams) October 8, 2023

The declaration of war portended greater fighting ahead, and a major question was whether Israel would launch a ground assault into Gaza, a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties. Meanwhile, in northern Israel, a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group fanned fears that the fighting could expand into a wider regional war.

Photos show fear, death and destruction in battle scenes

In Israel, a frightened woman runs down the street cradling a young girl in her arms as a car behind her is engulfed in a ball of flames after an unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas militants.

Police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip. Photo / AP

In Gaza City, an anguished Palestinian woman embraces the head of a dead man carried by a crowd through the streets after he was killed in retaliation by Israeli forces.

Mourners pray by the bodies of family members of Salem Abu Quta, a Hamas fighter, during a funeral after they were killed in an Israeli strike on their house in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip. Photo / AP

The images are just two of hundreds by Associated Press photographers that show the destruction, terror and sadness on both sides of the conflict — and the triumph by some Palestinians who see the attack as a victory. Hundreds have been killed on both sides of the border in fighting that continued on Sunday.

A ball of fire and smoke rises from an explosion on a Palestinian apartment tower following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. Photo / AP

In Saturday’s early morning assault, a photo shows the smoky trail of rockets from Gaza arcing through the sky against the backdrop of a rising sun. Rockets that struck a parking lot next to a residential building in the Israeli city of Ashkelon torched cars and sent thick black plumes skyward. Israeli security forces used a table like a stretcher to rescue a woman who lay in tattered, bloody clothes.

Israeli airstrikes on the Islamic National Bank of Gaza destroyed buildings and neighborhoods. Photo / Getty Images

People dance in celebration of the attacks that the militant Hamas group carried out against Israel at Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp. Photo / AP

A Palestinian man sits in the rubble of a building after it was struck by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. Photo / AP

Palestinians transport a captured Israeli civilian from Kibbutz Kfar Azza into the Gaza Strip. Photo / AP

Men in Gaza stood atop a burning Israeli tank with their arms raised in victory. On Sunday, a Palestinian man sat alone in front of the rubble of a destroyed apartment building that was tilted on its side behind him, exposing partial rooms still intact and laundry that had been hanging on balconies now covered in dirt and rubble.