{"id":353596,"date":"2023-12-13T06:55:51","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T07:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=353596"},"modified":"2023-12-13T10:02:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T10:02:04","slug":"khawajas-wholehearted-message-to-offended-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=353596","title":{"rendered":"Khawaja's wholehearted message to 'offended' critics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian Test cricketer Usman Khawaja<\/a> has spoken out on the message printed on his shoes in a passionate video posted to Instagram.<\/p>\n

The opener wrote 'all lives are equal' and 'freedom is a human right' in reference to conflict in Israel and Palestine and intended to wear the shoes for the first Test against Pakistan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the ICC<\/a>'s rule that \ufeffprohibits the display of personal messages shut down his ploy.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Cummins backs Khawaja as ICC bans silent protest<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Western Bulldogs suffer major blow with star's brutal injury<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Incoming Tigers boss' plea to Luai after 'traumatic day'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Khawaja received significant backlash for the act, but hit back at those critics.<\/p>\n

"What I do want is for everyone who did get offended, somehow ask yourself these questions: is freedom not for everyone? Are all lives not equal?" he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"For me personally, it doesn't matter what race, religion or culture you are, let's be honest about it, if me saying all lives are equal has resulted in people being offended, to the point where they're calling me up and telling me off, isn't that the bigger problem?<\/p>\n

"These people obviously don't believe in what I've written, and it's not just a handful of people, you'd be shocked about how many feel this way."<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old referenced the conflict in the Middle East, stating "I'm not taking sides".<\/p>\n

"What I've written on my shoes isn't political. I'm not taking sides, human life to me is equal," he said.<\/p>\n

\"'We<\/p>\n

"One Jewish life is equal to one Muslim life, is equal to one Hindu life \ufeffand so on.<\/p>\n

"I'm just speaking up for those that don't have a voice. This is close to my heart. When I see thousands of innocent people dying without any repercussion or remorse, I imagine my two girls. What if this was them? No one chooses where they're born.<\/p>\n

"And then I see the world turn their backs on them, my heart can't take it. I already feel my life wasn't equal to others when I was growing up, but luckily for me I never lived in a world where that inequality was life or death."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/C0yJmO0v0iL\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp<\/a><\/p>\n

Following the message on Khawaja's shoes being photographed, and the opener stating his intent to wear them<\/a>, Cricket Australia released a statement which cancelled out his hopes.<\/p>\n

"We support the right of our players to express personal opinions," a CA statement read.<\/p>\n

"But the ICC has rules in place which prohibit the display of personal messages which we expect the players to uphold."<\/p>\n

\ufeffHowever, Khawaja has stated his intent to 'fight' against the ruling.<\/p>\n

"The ICC have told me I can't wear my shoes on field because they believe it is a political statement under their guidelines," he said.<\/p>\n

"I don't believe this is so, it's a humanitarian appeal. I will respect their view and decision but I will fight it and seek to gain approval.<\/p>\n

"Freedom is a human right and all lives are equal. I will never stop believing that, whether you agree with me or not."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian Test cricketer Usman Khawaja has spoken out on the message printed on his shoes in a passionate video posted to Instagram. The opener wrote […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":353598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=353596"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":353601,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353596\/revisions\/353601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/353598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=353596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=353596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=353596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}