Shon Weissman of Granada CF during the match between Granada CF and FC Cartagena of La Liga Hypermotions on April 20, 2025, at Cartagonova Stadium in Granada, Spain. Photo: IMAGO/Samuel Carreno via Reuters Connect

The German soccer club Fortuna Düsseldorf has backed out of plans to sign Israeli striker Shon Weissman, who has stirred controversy with past comments on social media in support of Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip.

On Tuesday, Fortuna Düsseldorf said in a German language statement on social media that it intensely looked into having Weissman, 29, join its club but “ultimately decided to refrain from signing him.”

The second-division soccer team was close to finalizing a €500,000 deal to have Weissman transfer from the Spanish club soccer Granada CF, local German media reported recently. After the news went public, fans of the German soccer team shared screenshots of since-deleted, online posts by Weissman in which the Haifa native expressed support for the Israel Defense Forces and its military operations in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas mass terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The athlete was accused by anti-Israel social media users of supporting genocide and “the mass bombing of civilians in Gaza.”

Weissman liked and reposted messages that said “wipe Gaza off the map” and suggested there were “no innocents” in the Gaza Strip, according to Haaretz. Weissman’s agent, Boaz Goren, said that the posts and likes were not by Weissman but a social media manager who had access to his accounts, the Israeli newspaper reported.

Fortuna Düsseldorf at first defended Weissman. Replying to a post on X that featured a quote from Weismann, taken from Wikipedia, the soccer team said on Monday that “judging people you don’t know” based on a Wikipedia article “doesn’t really fit our vibe.” Less than 24 hours later, however, the team announced that it would not pursue a deal with Weissman.

The Israeli striker responded to the news in a statement shared on Instagram. He said a person will always stand with their country “no matter what” and that “loyalty isn’t up for debate,” especially “when your people are still burying their dead.”

“I am a son of a nation still grieving from the horrors of October 7,” he wrote. “That black day, when entire families were murdered, kidnapped, and brutalized, remains an open wound for me … It’s both possible and necessary to oppose harm to innocent people on both sides but I won’t allow myself to be painted as someone who promoted hate. If that’s hard for some to accept they should take another look at what happened on October 7th.”

He said in conclusion: “I am deeply grateful for the support I’ve received from people that actually know me, and I will continue to proudly carry the Israeli flag wherever I play.”

Weissman joined Granada in 2023 and his contract with the team expires in late June 2026. He began his career playing for Maccabi Haifa and has also played for Austria’s Wolfsberger AC and Spain’s Real Valladolid.