French sports festival removes image of football in Gaza ruins after 'outside pressure'

An image of a football game being played on a pitch in Gaza was removed from a French festival following requests from unnamed sources, in a move described to The New Arab as "deeply troubling".

The photograph by Palestinian photographer Jehad Alshrafi showed players from the Gaza Sports Club and the Al-Ahly club playing a football game in the enclave on 14 February, surrounded by buildings that were destroyed during Israel's genocidal war.

The image, which was initially displayed at the Deauville Sport Images Festival in France, was replaced by a picture of cyclists, according to local newspaper Le Pays d'Auge.

Mohammed Abu Srour, sports director at the youth centre at the Aida football pitch in the occupied West Bank, described the move as yet another attempt to hide Israel's crimes in Gaza.

"I find the removal of this photograph deeply troubling because the image documents something that should not be hidden," Abu Srour told The New Arab.

"The football pitch, surrounded by destroyed buildings, is a powerful visual record of the devastation caused by Israel's military occupation offensive in Gaza, including the destruction of civilian and sports facilities."

The festival's organisers, the Normandy seaside resort of Deauville, confirmed the photo was replaced, but did not reveal who made the request, saying they "do not want to enter into controversy or offend anyone".

"For me, this photograph represents both the brutality of the destruction and the resilience of Palestinians who continue to play football and live their lives amid the devastation," Abu Srour said.

"It should be seen, discussed and questioned, not erased."

Local media reported that the photograph was meant to run from 6 June to 6 September but was replaced around 20 August.

Sylvain Larcher, the local secretary of France's Socialist Party and a member of the Gauche Côte Fleurie association, noticed the change on Thursday and questioned the move.

"When photographs and footage documenting Gaza are removed or suppressed, it becomes harder for the world to see and understand what has happened," Abu Srour explained.

The director also highlighted that the matter is also about freedom of expression and the public's right to see what is happening, given that foreign journalists have been prevented from entering Gaza and independently covering the war.

"Removing this image does not erase the destruction it depicts. If anything, it makes preserving and publishing such evidence even more important."

The removal and subsequent replacement have been condemned.

"It's clear France never truly learnt from the decolonisation of Algeria," Ashish Prashar, former advisor to the Middle East peace envoy, told The New Arab.

"Imagine removing the images of a war crime because the war criminals were upset, but should we be surprised at this point?"

"European leaders and governments are fully committed to protecting the feelings of the Israeli occupation and covering up the evidence of their crimes. Fortunately for the public, it will now have the opposite effect and only spread evidence of their crimes further and expose the continued complicity of Europe in this genocide."

Israel's ongoing genocidal war has drastically impacted sports in Gaza, having killed over 500 Palestinian footballers since the war began in October 2023, including Mohammed Barakat and Suleiman al-Obeid, who was known as the "Palestinian Pele".

At the same time, all of Gaza's professional football stadiums were destroyed or rendered unusable, except for the Al‑Dura (Al‑Dorra) Stadium in Deir al‑Balah, which now shelters thousands of displaced people.