(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) The Left’s inability to come to grips with the Israel–Hamas conflict was once more on display last Sunday during an NFL game.
Attending a Philadelphia Eagles game, George Norcross, a New Jersey businessman and Democrat Party organizer, was escorted out of the stadium after he flew a half American–half Israeli flag from his private box seats, Newsweek reported.
Security approached Norcross, apparently trying to remove the flag, but he resisted and was eventually escorted out, after which the flag was taken down.
Norcross—the executive chairman of the insurance brokerage firm Conner, Strong & Buckelew—released a statement shortly thereafter complaining about the action taken by stadium security.
“Yesterday, I was forcibly removed and assaulted by the non-police security staff of Lincoln Financial Field and the Eagles/NFL for refusing to remove a 3- by 5-foot American and Israeli flag I’d hung off the box I was sitting in,” he wrote, noting that his loyalty as an Eagles fan has not be rewarded.
“As a longtime passionate fan and season ticket holder, I have watched the Eagles/NFL make clear and strong statements on numerous important civil justice issues and ethnic and world conflicts, including supporting the people of Ukraine, so as a strong supporter of Israel—a country which was viciously attacked by the terrorist group Hamas less than a month ago—I thought it was an important statement to make,” he said in the statement.
Norcross said he was considering filing a lawsuit against the Eagles, as well as the NFL and the security company.
“I urge other supporters of Israel to make their feelings known to the team and the NFL, just as they have to universities like Penn and Harvard,” he said, adding that “Hamas murdered innocent Israeli civilians, raped woman and butchered children, and continues to hold hostages.”
According to the Philadelphia Eagles, however, Norcross’s signage did indeed violate the policy of the stadium.
“Our stadium policies expressly prohibit signage containing any kind of non-game messaging to be hung from a stadium suite,” the team said in a statement.
They also noted that Norcross “became physically and verbally abusive,” and received the same punishment “as anyone else would be after engaging in abusive behavior in violation of stadium policy.”
Video posted online of the incident appeared to show Norcross gesticulating in an animated but not violent manner while being escorted out.
Were Norcross, who is listed as one of the Garden State’s wealthiest individuals and most powerful men, to throw his support to the nearby New York Jets instead, he might fare better in his efforts at in-stadium virtue-signaling.
The Jets notably added a Ukrainian flag decal to their helmets last season to highlight the relief efforts for the war-torn country, which has receieved more than $200 billion in aid courtesy of U.S. taxpayers since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
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However, the unfortunate trade-off would be that the Jets—who lost their star quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, to a season-ending Achilles injury in the first drive of the season—have only won a single championship, 1968’s Super Bowl III. They have not won a division championship since 2002.
