Referee banned from the US accused of claiming, ‘Jews benefit at the expense of Muslims’
A 2014 tweet from an account believed to belong to Omar Artan also spoke about 'Arab blood being shed'
A referee who has received widespread support from the footballing world after being banned from entering the United States has been accused of posting on social media that “Jews benefit at the expense of Muslims”.
Omar Artan, a Somali referee who was due to officiate at the FIFA World Cup, was denied entry to the United States this week. The official, who was named the Confederation of African Football men’s referee of the year in 2025, was detained at Miami International Airport when he tried to enter, the US and was subsequently flown to Turkey, landing back in Somalia on Wednesday to a hero’s welcome.
Despite the tournament also taking place in Canada and Mexico, all the referees and assistant referees will be based at a training facility in Florida; FIFA subsequently confirmed that Artan would no longer officiate at the tournament as a result. He told the New York Times that he was “very, very disappointed… I’m just simply a referee who’s trying to live his dream – the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup.” US Immigration authorities did not initially give a reason for Artan’s ban, but a statement on Tuesday from the Trump administration said he had been denied entry because of links to “suspected members of terror organisations”.
The decision by the US authorities has been widely condemned. However, in response to a tweet by former first lady and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton criticising the move, the official account of the Republic of Somaliland, the country which has declared independence from Somalia, highlighted a 2014 comment from a Twitter account believed to belong to Artan.
“Vetting is important”, the Republic of Somaliland account said, claiming that the tweet from Artan’s account, which was in response to BBC Somali, read: “Jews, target Muslims and Arabs, and suck their blood.”
However, Jewish News understands that a more accurate translation would be, “Jews benefit at the expense of Muslims, and Arab blood has been shed.”
The tweet from the account associated with Artan, on 28 July 2014, came during the 2014 Gaza War, also known as “Operation Protective Edge”.
The escalation in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas saw widespread Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, and more than 4,500 rockets and mortars fired from Gaza at Israel. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reported more than 2,000 deaths, with between 30-44% of those killed believed to be members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Earlier this year Israel became the first nation to officially recognise the Republic of Somaliland. Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Abdullahi, is believed to be due to visit Israel next week, after a trip planned for March was postponed due to the Israel-Iran war.
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