The Palestinian Solidarity Alliance (PSA) has submitted an application to stage peaceful protest during he U19 World Cup 2024 opener between South Africa and West Indies in Potchefstroom in the wake of David Teeger's comments favouring Israel Army. PSA's Naazim Adams has also demanded an apology from Teeger, but insisted that they did not want to destroy the 19-year-old's career.
On Friday, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced that Teeger has been relieved of captaincy duties ahead of the tournament over safety concerns due to his comments. After winning the Rising Star award at the ABSA Jewish Achiever Awards ceremony on October 22nd, the right-hander commented the below, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:
"But more importantly, yes, I've been awarded this award, and yes, I am now the rising star, but the true rising stars are the young soldiers in Israel… So I'd like to dedicate this award to the South African family that married off one son whilst the other is still missing. And I'd like to dedicate it to the state of Israel and to every single soldier fighting so that we can live and thrive in the diaspora."
However, CSA cleared him to captain in the showpiece event after running an enquiry. However, the board reasoned that the threat of potential protests related to the warfare in Gaza made it important for them to remove him as captain.
"Until Teeger apologises, we’re not happy" - PSA
Adams underlined that Teeger must accept what he did was wrong and must apologize. He elaborated while speaking to News 24:
"Has David accepted that he’s done wrong and inflamed the cricket-loving community, and that his actions have been divisive? Has CSA not recognised that David has brought the game into disrepute? Until Teeger apologises, we’re not happy. CSA are the real culprits here and they’re being disingenuous by dropping him as captain because of threats."
The U19 World Cup 2024 starts on January 19th.
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