Manchester Jewish leaders tell Pep Guardiola to ‘focus on football’ after latest Gaza outburst

The Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester (JRC) has urged Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola to “focus on football” after using his platform to opine on what he called the “genocide” in Palestine twice in one week.

The umbrella body, which is composed of delegates from across the city’s Jewish organisations, synagogues and institutions, also called out Guardiola for what it called “his total failure” to demonstrate solidarity with the local Jewish community in the wake of the attack on Heaton Park Synagogue last October. The car-ramming and stabbing terror attack claimed the lives of two members of the community, Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby.

Speaking in front of reporters earlier this week ahead of a game against Newcastle United, Guardiola said: “Never, ever in the history of humanity [have] we had the information in front of our eyes watching more clearly now.
“The genocide in Palestine, what happened in Ukraine, what happened in Russia, what happened all around the world, in Sudan, everywhere,” he added. “We kill each other for what?... When I see the images, I’m sorry, it hurts.”