Kyrie Irving Not Focused On Basketball, Turns His Focus to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Kyrie Irving has never been one to “stick to sports.” As his Brooklyn Nets begin their journey toward chasing an NBA Championship, Irving is making it clear that sports are not the first thing on his mind. After the Nets victory over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday, Irving chose to focus on the continuing violence in the Middle East.

In a video from SNY, Irving stated:

I’m not going to lie to you guys, a lot of stuff is going on in this world, and basketball is just not the most important thing to me right now. There’s a lot of stuff going on overseas. All my people are still in bondage across the world, and there’s a lot of dehumanization going on.

So I apologize if I’m not going to be focused on y’all’s questions. It’s just too much going on in the world for me to just be talking about basketball. I focus on this s*** 24/7, most of the time, but it’s just too much going on in this world not to address. It’s just sad to see this s*** going on. It’s not just in Palestine, it’s not just in Israel. It’s all over the world, man, and I feel it. I’m very compassionate … to all races, all cultures, and to see a lot of different people being discriminated against based on their religion, color of their skin, what they believe in. It’s just sad.

We all say we’re human beings, and we care, and we’re compassionate, but what are you doing to help? … My goal out here, my purpose is to help humanity. And I can’t sit here and not address that. I don’t care which way you stand. On either side, if you’re a human being, and you support the anti-war effort that’s going on. There’s a lot of people losing their lives — children, a lot of babies, and that’s just what I’m focused on.

Kyrie Irving comments on recent events around the world:

“It’s sad to see this s— going on… it’s all over the world, and I feel it… my goal and my purpose is to help humanity, and I can’t sit here and not address that.” pic.twitter.com/dDrpmZPP7F

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) May 15, 2021

Irving’s comments come as violence between Israel and the Palestinians is at its worst in years. On Saturday, Israel confirmed their attack on a high-rise building in Gaza City which housed Palestinian terrorists:

A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck a multi-story building which contained military assets belonging to the intelligence offices of the Hamas terror organization.

The building contained civilian media offices, which the Hamas terror organization hides behind and uses as human shields. The Hamas terror organization deliberately places military targets at the heart of densely populated civilian areas in the Gaza Strip.

Prior to the strike, the IDF provided advance warning to civilians in the building and allowed sufficient time for them to evacuate the site.

As reported by The Daily Wire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared the intelligence with the United States.

“We shared with our American friends all that intelligence,” Netanyahu said on “Face The Nation.” “Here’s the intelligence we had: it’s about Palestinian terrorists, an intelligence office for the Palestinian terrorist organization, housed in that building, that plots and organizes the terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. So it’s a perfectly legitimate target.”

“No people were killed,” Netanyahu explained, later adding: “Now imagine, ask yourself, ‘How is that possible?’ You see these highrise towers that are used by Hamas. Over and over again, they collapse and no one is killed. Why does that happen? Because we, unlike Hamas, take special precautions to tell people [to] leave the building, leave the premises.”

Netanyahu went on to describe how Israel attempts to minimize civilian casualties.

“We make sure that everyone is gone before we bring down those terrorist facilities,” he said. “And that’s the difference between Israel and Hamas. They deliberately target our cities, deliberately target our civilians. They glorify the death of children and civilians and old people. They’re happy with it. I think they are happy with any deaths that are caused [to] them. We grieve for every non-combatant loss in Gaza, and we grieve for all our civilians who die. We’re not happy with it, and we try to minimize it.”

Irving and the Nets will enter the playoffs as the likely favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. If Brooklyn defeats the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night, they will be the No. 2 overall seed in the East.

Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].

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