HOUSTON, July 14 (UPI) -- Houston Rockets player Dwight Howard waded into political hot water Saturday after he took to Twitter to comment on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The tweet, which read" #FreePalestine," was posted late Saturday afternoon and was deleted 15 minutes later. Howard then tweeted that the message was a mistake and apologized for offending anyone.
previous tweet was a mistake. I have never commented on international politics and never will.
— Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward) July 12, 2014
I apologize if I offended anyone with my previous tweet, it was a mistake!
— Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward) July 12, 2014
The Houston Rockets are one of the two NBA teams with an Israeli player. His teammate Omri Casspi also tweeted about the conflict and was bolder in his statement made shortly after Howard's tweet.
600 missiles been fired from GAZA by Hamas in the last 4 days. NUMBERS DONT LIE. STOP LYING.
— Omri Casspi (@Casspi18) July 12, 2014