Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Responding to Mohamed Salah: Who Killed the ‘Palestinian Pelé’?
Palestine Chronicle Staff
20 Aug 2025
🖨️ Print Article
x
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah rebuked UEFA for not mentioning who killed Suleiman al-Obeid. (Image: Maktoob Media)

Al-Obeid, 41, was killed on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, in an Israeli attack on civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip.

Originally published in Palestine Chronicle.

When UEFA posted a tribute on Friday, August 8, 2025, to Suleiman al-Obeid — the Gaza football legend known as the “Palestinian Pelé” — they made no mention of who killed him or how he died.

Liverpool star Mohamed Salah, the most high-profile Arab player in the game, appeared to notice. The following day, Saturday, August 9, 2025, he replied to UEFA’s post with a pointed and deliberate question: “Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?”

The comment — a clear rebuke of UEFA’s omission — quickly went viral, drawing nearly one million views in less than 24 hours.

Here is the Palestine Chronicle’s answer to Salah’s question.

Who Killed Suleiman al-Obeid?

Al-Obeid, 41, was killed on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, in an Israeli attack on civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Football Association (PFA).

Born in Gaza on March 24, 1984, he began his career with Khadamat al-Shati before moving to Markaz Shabab al-Am’ari in the occupied West Bank, later returning to play for Gaza Sport.

He became a fixture in the Palestinian national team after his 2007 debut, earning 24 caps and scoring twice. His most memorable goal — a spectacular scissor-kick against Yemen — came during the 2010 West Asian Football Federation championship.

During his long career, al-Obeid scored more than 100 goals. His skill, creativity, and leadership earned him the nickname “the Palestinian Pelé,” a nod to the Brazilian great widely regarded as one of the best players in history.

The PFA said al-Obeid was trying to obtain humanitarian aid amid widespread starvation and severe shortages of food and water when he was killed. He is survived by his wife and five children.

The Cost to Palestinian Sports

Al-Obeid’s death came just days before the killing of another Gaza footballer, Mahmoud Rafeh Shaheen of Al-Tuffah Sports Club, who was also targeted by Israeli forces while waiting for aid. Shaheen was the second Al-Tuffah player killed in two weeks, following his teammate Ismail Abu Dan.

The PFA says Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza has devastated Palestinian sports. 

Since October 7, 2023, over 700 athletes and sports officials have been killed, including 322 affiliated with the PFA — among them players, coaches, administrators, referees, and club board members. 

At least 288 sports facilities have been damaged or destroyed, 268 of them in Gaza. The association’s headquarters in Gaza was among the sites hit in Israeli air raids.

As Palestinian journalist and Palestine Chronicle editor Ramzy Baroud wrote in a recent editorial, “In the Palestinian case, the hypocrisy is limitless, though it began long before the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Every Palestinian effort, often backed by Arab, Muslim, and Global South associations, to hold Israel accountable for its apartheid and military occupation has been met with consistent failure. Every time, the response is the same.”

According to Baroudm, FIFA’s “go-to excuse” — that sports and politics should not mix — is “the height of hypocrisy,” given that the organization “seamlessly mixed the two following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Baroud stressed that the “complete moral breakdown on the part of institutions like FIFA” stands in stark contrast to the growing movement of sports fans worldwide, who “refuse to be part of this moral travesty” and are now “unequivocally challenging FIFA’s continued support for Israel.”

With American backing, Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians — most of them women, children, and the elderly — and injured over 152,000, according to Palestinian authorities. 

Thousands remain missing under the rubble. The blockade-induced famine has already claimed the lives of dozens of children and continues to push thousands to the brink of starvation.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

Palestine
sports
Genocide

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Belen Fernandez
Israel’s Lebanese Land Grab
21 October 2026
Under the guise of a farcical “pilot zone” project to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty, Israel is pursuing a scorched-earth strategy whi
Gerald Perreira
October 7, 2023: The day that changed the world
21 October 2026
October 7, 2023, was not an isolated attack, but the culmination of generations of Palestinian imprisonment and resistance in Gaza, comparable
Edward Rhymes
What Changes For Palestine?
21 October 2026
Disregard for Palestinian rights is a feature of Israeli politics rather than a bug.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ARTICLE: “Trade in Blacks” Practiced in Haiti; Tension Among Peasants Increases,” Jacques Roumain, 1937
07 October 2026
“Between October 2 and October 8, 1937, between 15,000 and 40,000 Haitians and Black Dominicans were slaughtered by Dominican troops…
Dr. M. Reza Behnam
Three Years of Genocide: How ‘Never Again’ Lost Meaning in Gaza
07 October 2026
If international law and justice are buried in the rubble of Gaza, the global community will ultimately be digging its own grave.
Sami Al-Arian
Why Hamas believed the status quo was more dangerous than its 7 October gamble
07 October 2026
Three years into Israel's genocide in Gaza, the consequences of a decision driven by siege, settlement expansion, and assaults on Al-Aqsa are s
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Defending a Non-Existent International Law
30 September 2026
The Hague Group’s goal is to “. . .
Roberta Rivolta
Western Activism and the Axis of Resistance
23 September 2026
Western pro-Palestinian activism isolates Palestine from its regional allies, depoliticizing its struggle and reinforcing colonial
Dhoruba bin-Wahad
Guardian Foray: All That's Not Real Is Camouflage
09 September 2026
An Open Letter from the American "Left" allegedly on behalf of unnamed persons said to be Iranian political prisoners has provided co
Libertad para Fergie
Free Fergie Chambers: Solidarity Is Not a Crime
09 September 2026
Fergie Chambers is an American philanthropist who was arrested on July 10 in Ibiza, Spain, by order of the Trump Administration.

More Stories


  • Alex Saab, Venezuelan Political Prisoner on Trial in Miami, Refuses to “Sing”
    Roger D. Harris
    Alex Saab, Venezuelan Political Prisoner on Trial in Miami, Refuses to “Sing”
    14 Dec 2022
    Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab was kidnapped by the U.S. in 2020 and is still in custody. An evidentiary hearing is taking place to determine if the country that constantly speaks of a "rules based…
  • Invitations for a Seat at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Table Should Not Only Be Rejected, the Table Needs Turning Over!
    Black Alliance For Peace
    Invitations for a Seat at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Table Should Not Only Be Rejected, the Table Needs Turning Over!
    14 Dec 2022
    The 2022 U.S. African Leaders Summit is the latest effort by Washington to exert influence on a continent where it habitually thwarts democracy, sovereignty and independence for 54 nations. 
  • Rain of Sanctions Augurs U.S.-Prodded Regime Change in Haiti from Musseau to Montana
    Travis Ross
    Rain of Sanctions Augurs U.S.-Prodded Regime Change in Haiti from Musseau to Montana
    14 Dec 2022
    U.S. and Canadian sanctions against Haitians are a signal that a new Core Group regime change plot is underway.
  • Sanctions: A Wrecking Ball in a Global Economy
    Dee Knight
    Sanctions: A Wrecking Ball in a Global Economy
    14 Dec 2022
    A new book, Sanctions: A Wrecking Ball in a Global Economy, analyses unilateral coercive measures, sanctions, which are war by other means waged by the U.S. against millions of people around the…
  • Israel and the Rise of Jewish Fascism
    Chris Hedges
    Israel and the Rise of Jewish Fascism
    14 Dec 2022
    The mask is being lifted from the face of Israel’s apartheid state, exposing a grinning death’s head that portends the obliteration of the few restraints against killing Palestinians.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us