Two Palestinian kids will be present at the medal ceremony after the match of the UEFA Super Cup between Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur in Udine, said UEFA.
Twelve-year-old Tala and nine-year-old Mohamed will take seats next to UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin as the players are awarded their medals.
Tala who is quite a fragile child and got worse due to war in Gaza so she was moved to Milan for treatment that cannot be given in Gaza while Mohamed was orphaned in an air strike, got severely hurt and later moved to Milan with his grandmother for his recovery.
The warm gesture comes at a time when Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has severely criticised UEFA for a very short tribute to Palestinian football legend Suleiman al-Obeid, who died in Gaza while waiting for aid.
Salah wondered why UEFA didn’t say under what conditions he died when the fighting is still going on.On top of that, during the opening ceremony, nine refugee children from Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Palestine, and Ukraine will be holding up a banner with the words “STOP KILLING CHILDREN – STOP KILLING CIVILIANS”.
They are part of Inter Campus, a UEFA Foundation education project that supports the social integration of different ethnic groups and cultures.The gesture of UEFA is a signal that the organisation is still engaged in a humanitarian crisis besides holding one of the most important European football events.