Photo of Rodney Buford on Al-Manar's website
Hezbollah TV: Basketball players from Israel may be Mossad spies
Head of anti-Israel group tells Al-Manar American basketball players who played in Jewish state before coming to Lebanon may be 'threat to national security'
Hezbollah's mouthpiece Al-Manar TV aired a report criticizing Lebanese authorities for allowing eight foreign basketball players who had previously played in Israel to play for teams in Lebanon. One of the players, Sam Hoskin, plays for Lebanon's national team. Hoskin, an American, previously played for Israeli basketball club Hapoel Galil-Elyon.
Abd el-Malek Sachriya, who heads an organization promoting legislation aimed at boycotting Israel, told Al-Manar's website that Lebanese authorities are responsible for the "scandal" in which Hoskin was allowed to become a citizen of the Arab country.
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He said Lebanon was "half-asleep" and wondered "how can it be that eight players who have played in the Zionist entity come to play in Lebanon - and one of them is even granted citizenship – without anyone knowing who they really are?"
Sachriya said he would meet the Lebanese sports minister next week to discuss the matter. "Any player who entered the Zionist entity and came to Lebanon must be expelled immediately," he said.
"Players who came from Israel may have been recruited by Mossad – this is a danger to national security," Sachriya continued. "As we know, the enemy uses all the means at its disposal to achieve its goals and harm the Lebanese resistance."
Among the players mentioned in the report were ex-Macabbi Tel Aviv forward Rodney Buford; Alpha Bangoura, who played for Givat Shmuel; former Ramat Hasharon player Derek Trevor; John Thomas and Tony Dawson, who was Israel's leading scorer during the 1991-92 season when he played for Betar Tel Aviv.
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