- The player is currently featuring for England at the ODI Cricket World Cup
England vice-captain Moeen Ali posted and then deleted a picture including a Palestine flag in an apparent show of support for the territory.
His initial post on social media site Instagram featured a quote from activist Malcolm X accompanied by his image, with the Palestinian flag also spray-painted into the mural.
The quote read: ‘If you’re not careful the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing’.
The original post was subsequently deleted, and replaced by the quote itself, typed against a black background.
The sharing of both posts – and deleting of the first – comes hours after Ali shared that he had once feared growing a beard in a bid to avoid being labelled an ‘extremist’.
‘Muhammad Ali was a massive inspiration for me because of his upbringing and becoming a Muslim,’ Moeen, 36, told Sky Sports.
‘Then Hashim Amla as a cricketer in South Africa having a big beard. If he can do it, why can’t I? It’s what I wanted to do but I was a bit afraid at the time. I was young and I didn’t want people to think — even my own family — I was extreme or becoming an extremist.
‘Because at that time, that’s all people were talking about — Muslims being extreme.’
The England star is the second international figure currently featuring at the Cricket World Cup in India to have shown support for Palestinians in the wake of the roiling conflict in the region following the attacks of terror group Hamas in Israel on Saturday.
Pakistan’s Muhammad Rizwan dedicated his century in his country’s win against Sri Lanka to Palestinian civilians.
‘This was for our brothers and sisters in Gaza’, Rizwan shared on X (formerly Twitter), before going on to praise the Indian supporters at the match.
Ali has previously shown similar support, in 2014 donning two wristbands engraved with the words ‘Save Gaza’ and ‘Free Palestine’.
The 36-year-old received permission from the English and Wales Cricket Board to sport the two bands on the grounds that the player was making a humanitarian statement, rather than a political one.
However, Ali was asked to remove the bands by the referee during England’s third Test against India by the International Cricket Council due to their differing ruling.
At the time, the ICC issued the following statement: ‘The ICC equipment and clothing regulations do not permit the display of messages that relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes during an international match.
‘Moeen Ali was told by the match referee that while he is free to express his views on such causes away from the cricket field, he is not permitted to wear the wristbands on the field of play and warned not to wear the bands again during an international match.’
More to follow.
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