Draymond Green, the All-Star forward of the reigning champion Golden State Warriors, triggered anti-Zionists with his recent trip to Israel, where he had the opportunity to fire Israeli guns.
Green visited Israel as part of a Friends of the IDF trip, where he met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and gave him a jersey.
Rivlin tweeted praise of Green:
Tremendous pleasure today to welcome Draymond @Money23Green of the Golden State @Warriors. It’s not everyday you get to meet an #Allstar! I hope this will be only your first visit to Israel, come back and visit us soon. pic.twitter.com/kaDwq5i4C8
— Reuven Rivlin (@PresidentRuvi) July 4, 2018
Green also learned about Israel Defense Forces (IDF) weaponry and was able to fire Israeli guns:
American basketball player Draymond Green @money23green #NBA Golden State Warriors visits police CT unit, FIDF open basketball hall #israel pic.twitter.com/hkYn9DxAx2
— Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) July 4, 2018
Draymond Green(@Money23Green) was a guest today of the Israeli SWAT Dep. pic.twitter.com/ze9Ubztv22
— Or Shkedy (@Orshkedy) July 4, 2018
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk0iVZCDPiN/?utm_source=ig_embed
Cue the anti-Zionists:
https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/1016913297340272640
Disgraceful. @Money23Green being used to support #Israeli Defense Forces ; posing as sniper on visit to Israel. C’mon #DraymondGreen! You said “you have to stand for something”. Is this what you meant? Shooting #Palestinian kids? @warriors https://t.co/zlW8LRw4s8
— James J. Zogby (@jjz1600) July 11, 2018
I wanna call our brother @Money23Green in & offer some real talk about how we can support justice, as he said in a recent interview, “the right way.” Offer is here, brother. Never let anyone use you as a mule. Black folks have had enough of that already. https://t.co/XDRuF5eejY
— Alicia Garza (@aliciagarza) July 11, 2018
The Nation’s Dave Zarin wrote that it was “shocking to see Draymond Green smiling and shooting guns in their company.”
“Imagine Green visiting the Ferguson police department while fires were still smoldering in 2014,” Zarin wrote. “He never would have done it, yet this visit was somehow fine: legitimizing a regime that just engaged in a massacre. It was exactly the kind of propaganda trip, embedded in the Israeli military and shielded from Palestinian life, that Michael Bennett and other NFL players refused to participate in last year, because of the parallels between the plight of Palestinians and the #blacklivesmatter struggle against police violence in the United States.”
Those criticizing Green would be wise to read a May column by Jewish Chronicle writer Dan Sugarman, who wrote that he recanted his criticism of Israel’s handling of the Gaza border violence once it became clear that most of the killed Palestinians were Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.
“Shoot at those charging at you and Hamas would have its martyrs,” Sugarman wrote. “Fail to shoot and Hamas would break through the barrier and bring suffering and death – its stated aim – to Israelis living only a few hundred metres away from that barrier.”
