Pep Guardiola gives emotional speech on suffering in Gaza: ‘It's not about ideology – it's about the love of life'

New York Times

a day ago

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola gave an emotional speech about the suffering in Gaza after receiving an honorary degree from Manchester University on Monday.
The Spaniard was being recognised for his contribution to the city during his nine years at the Etihad and chose to use his platform to highlight the continued bombing of the region by Israel.
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Gaza has been under a near two-decade blockade but Israel declared war on Hamas after the group's October 7 attack in 2023, which killed about 1,195 people and saw around 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials via the New York Times. Gazan officials, via the NYT, estimate that more than 56,000 have died in the enclave since October 2023.
After agreeing a temporary ceasefire in January, which paved a possible route to a permanent end to the fighting, Israel broke the agreement in March after consultation with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, the NYT reported. Fighting and bombing have since resumed in Gaza, which was home to 2.2 million Palestinians before the war. More than 4,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire ended, according to the Gaza health ministry via the NYT.
'It's so painful what we see in Gaza. It hurts all my body,' said Guardiola. 'Let me be clear — it's not about ideology. It's not about I'm right and you're wrong. Come on, it's just about the love of life. About the care of your neighbour. Maybe we think that we can see the boys and girls of four years old being killed with a bomb or being killed at the hospital — which is not a hospital anymore — and think it's not our business.
'Yeah, fine. We can think about that. It's not our business, but be careful. The next one will be ours. The next four-, five-year-old kids will be ours. Sorry that I see my kids Maria, Marius and Valentina every morning since the nightmare started in Gaza, and I'm so scared.'
In what is a complicated and long-running conflict, Guardiola appealed for more people to speak out about the suffering. 'Maybe this image feels far away from where we are living now, and you might ask what we can do,' he added.
'There's a story I'm reminded of. A forest is on fire. All the animals live terrified, helpless. But the small bird flies back and forth to the sea, back and forth carrying drops of water in this little beak.
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'A snake laughs and asks, 'Why bro? You will never put the fire out.' The poor bird replies, 'Yes, I know'. 'Then why do you do it again and again?', the snake asks once again. 'I'm just doing my part', the bird replies for the last time.
'The bird knows that he won't stop the fire but it refused to do nothing. In a world that often tells us that we are too small to make a difference, that story reminds me that the power of one is not about the scale, it's about choice. About showing up, about refusing to be silent or still when it matters most.'
Guardiola has previously spoken out on other global issues like racism and in 2017, called for a referendum on Catalan independence to be granted by the Spanish government. He was later fined by the English Football Association for wearing a yellow ribbon in support of jailed Catalan independence leaders.
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