Manchester City coach Guardiola attended the ceremony of the University of Manchester to award him an honorary doctorate, which is intended to recognize him as "the extraordinary contribution he has made to the city on and off the court for nine years". At the ceremony, Guardiola delivered a speech on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Guardiola's statement is as follows:
Everything that is happening in Gaza is heartbreaking. This pain runs through my whole body. Let's make it clear: it has nothing to do with ideology. This is not a question about me being right or wrong. Listen, it is just about cherishing life, about caring for our compatriots.
Perhaps when we see a four-year-old child taking his life by a bomb or lying dying in a hospital, we think it has nothing to do with us. Yes, you can think so. We can think that things are not our own, but beware that the next tragedy will take place within hours.
Those four or five-year-olds will soon become our flesh and blood. Since the Gaza nightmare began, I feel deeply painful every morning when I look at my children Maria, Marlius and Valentina, and I am filled with fear. Perhaps these pictures seem far away to you. Maybe you will ask: What else can we do?
There is a story lingering in my heart: a fire ignited in the forest, and all animals were frightened and helpless. Only a little bird kept traveling between the fire and the sea, holding water to extinguish the fire with its fine beak. The poisonous snake sneered: 'Brother, why bother? You will never extinguish the fire. 'Bird answered: 'I know. ' 'Why is it futile to go back and forth? 'The poisonous snake asked. 'I only do my duty. 'The bird finally replied. It knew it could not stop the fire, but refused to stand by.
In this world where people often warn us to be slight, this fable reminds us that the strength of an individual is not about scale, but about choice, and about rejecting silence and indifference at critical moments.
Catalonia is my hometown, but Manchester will be a unique existence forever for the rest of my life. The best time of my life is spent here. I even began to fall in love with the rain and darkness of day and night here. It can be said that this has become a part of my soul. I understand, I really understand.