JERUSALEM/RIO DE JANEIRO (EJP)—“I am shocked by the incident in which the Israeli delegation in Rio was humiliated Because the Lebanese delegation refused to share a bus with Israeli Jews. This is pure anti-Semitism and racism of the worst kind,” said Israeli Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev.
She was reacting after the head of the Lebanese Olympic team, Salim al-Haj Nicola, physically blocked the entrance to the bus when the Israeli team tried to board the vehicle that was assigned to both sets of athletes joining the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on Friday.
The Israeli athletes insisted on boarding, but acquiesced after Olympics organisers brought a second bus for the team.
Israel’s Olympic sailing coach Udi Gal described the incident on his Facebook page: “Disgraceful! The Israeli Olympic team prepares to board the bus to the opening ceremony. It turns out we are sharing the bus with the Lebanese team. As soon as they realized they would be together with the Israeli team, members of the Lebanese team, led by the head of their team, turned to the driver and demanded he close the door. The organizers tried to split us up onto other buses, something that simply cannot be done for security and symbolic reasons. I insisted, we all insisted, on boarding our designated bus and if the Lebanese don’t want us, they’re welcome to get off. The bus driver opened the door, but this time the head of the Lebanese delegation stood at the entrance, blocking both the entrance and the aisle …. The organizers tried to prevent a physical altercation and an international incident and took us aside to a special shuttle.”
After he was summoned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Nakoula claimed that the whole incident was a misunderstanding and that he had not tried to block the Israeli delegation from boarding. The IOC gave the Lebanese team a formal warning.
“The International Olympic Committee, which champions the separation of sports and politics, must condemn this incident and act to prevent this type of behavior from recurring,” Minister Regev said.
Regev spoke with Igal Carmi, the president of Israel’s Olympic Committee and clarified that Israel must not remain silent about the incident because doing so would reinforce the delegitimization of Israeli athletes.
Regev noted that the subject would be raised at the next joint meeting of worldwide Olympic committee heads in an attempt to prompt an official condemnation of the incident and to prevent its recurrence.
“I am sending a warm embrace to all of our athletes who were humiliated on what was such an emotional and important day for them,” Regev said. “I support coach Udi Gal for talking about the anti-Semitic and unsportsmanlike incident. We all have a responsibility to not let this issue slip from the agenda until this phenomenon ceases to exist.”
In related news, Saudi Arabian judoka Joud Fahmy forfeited her first-round match on Sunday, claiming that she was injured. According to Israeli media reports on Channel 2, Fahmy was not hurt and dropped out to avoid facing Israeli judoka Gili Cohen, who she would have had to fight in the next round.