When a Pool Cue Becomes a Gun Because the Player Is Israeli

Sometimes a photograph needs a caption.

Sometimes the caption needs another photograph.

On Thursday night, 20-year-old Saied Abu Farchi scored Israel’s equalizer against Austria in European soccer’s Nations League.

He ran to the corner, pulled out the flag and celebrated.

By the following morning, The Guardian, publishing a Reuters report⁠, had a rather more dramatic explanation:

“Israel’s Saied Abu Farchi sent off for gun gesture celebration in defeat by Austria.”

Reuters reported that Abu Farchi had used the corner flag to “simulate a gun.” The interpretation had become a statement of fact.

Except other journalists looking at the same action weren’t so sure.

The Associated Press⁠ report described exactly what Abu Farchi did and said it was not immediately clear whether he was simulating a pool shot or a weapon.

That seems like a fairly important uncertainty.

As a photographer, this is where I start looking for another picture.

And there is one.

The Photograph From Be’er Sheva

On July 16, more than two months before the Austria game, Abu Farchi was playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv against Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the Israeli Super Cup.

He scored twice.

And he celebrated with the corner flag.

Ynet has the photograph, taken by Oz Mualem⁠.

There is Abu Farchi, months before Thursday night, doing substantially the same thing.

Ynet describes it as his familiar snooker-style celebration and reports that he was booked for doing it in the Be’er Sheva match as well.

That photograph should have changed the reporting.

A photograph cannot tell us what was going through Abu Farchi’s head in Austria.

It can tell us that this celebration existed before Thursday night.

And that is something worth checking before “gun” goes into the headline.

The Israeli Who Scored

There is another photograph here.

A 20-year-old Arab Israeli from Baqa al-Gharbiyye has just scored his first senior international goal while wearing the shirt of Israel.

Abu Farchi had already spent years representing Israel through its youth national teams. His former club, Maccabi Tel Aviv, records his progression through Israel’s U16, U17, U19 and U21 teams⁠.

Look at what is actually in front of the cameras.

An Arab Israeli has scored for Israel.

There is quite a story sitting right there.

Within hours, much of the international conversation was about an Israeli with a “gun.”

RTÉ went with “Israel’s Farchi sent off after gun gesture celebration”⁠and reported as fact that he had used the corner flag to simulate a gun.

Abu Farchi will now miss Israel’s match against Ireland on Sunday because of the red card.

Given everything already surrounding that fixture, you could hardly invent better material for social media.

What Did the Referee Actually Decide?

Abu Farchi had been booked four minutes before scoring.

Following the celebration, the referee showed him a second yellow and then a red.

I have yet to find an official UEFA referee report establishing that the second yellow was given because the referee had formally decided Abu Farchi was pretending to fire a weapon.

Yet look how easily those two things became joined together.

The referee sent him off following the celebration.

Reuters told us what the celebration meant.

Those are not necessarily the same thing.

Anyone who has worked with photographs should know the difference between recording an action and assigning meaning to it.

Put the Two Pictures Together

Take the Austria photograph on its own.

Freeze the movement at that instant.

With everything currently surrounding Israel, it isn’t difficult to see how somebody looking at the image could see a weapon.

Fine.

Now put the Be’er Sheva photograph beside it.

Same player.

Same corner flag.

Same celebration, months earlier.

That’s why picture editors look for context before writing captions.

Reuters decided it was a gun.

AP looked at the same action and left the question open.

The earlier photograph was sitting there waiting to be found.

I know which one I would have wanted on my desk before writing the headline.

Sometimes the second photograph tells you what the first one left out.

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