Israel’s Olympic team reported that some athletes have faced threats while competing in Paris, reflecting broader tensions over Palestinian deaths in the Gaza conflict and the risk of an escalating regional conflict in West Asia.
Yael Arad, president of the Israeli National Olympic Committee, told news agency AP that team members had been subjected to “centralised threats” aimed at instilling “psychological terror” in the athletes.
Last week, Paris prosecutors initiated an investigation into death threats sent via email to Israeli athletes. Additionally, the national cybercrime agency is probing the online leak of some Israeli athletes’ personal information, which has since been removed.
Prosecutors are also investigating allegations of racial hatred after Israeli athletes were subjected to “discriminatory gestures” during an Israel-Paraguay football match.
Tom Reuveny, a 24-year-old Israeli windsurfer who won a gold medal over the weekend, reported receiving threats. Speaking to AP at a memorial on Tuesday for 11 Israeli athletes killed in the 1972 Munich Olympics, he emphasised that politics should be set aside during the Games.
The report quoted Reuveny as saying, “I don’t think any politics should be involved in sport, especially in the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, there is a lot of politics involved — not in the Games — of the people who don’t want us to compete and don’t want us to be here. I’ve gotten quite a few messages and threats.”
Israel has advocated for the 2024 Paris Olympics to maintain its stance of neutrality, while the Palestinian delegation has seized the opportunity to spotlight the ongoing hardships faced by those in Gaza. The conflict between Israel and Hamas has resulted in the loss of over 39,000 Palestinian lives.
Palestinian American Olympic swimmer Valerie Tarazi told AP, “The thing that really hurts me is that people are looking at Palestinians as just numbers now. The number of people that died. The number of people displaced. As athletes, we’re here just as everyone else. We want to compete. As people, we have lives… We want to live in our homes, just like everyone else in the world.”
[With AP inputs]
First Published: Aug 07 2024 | 1:52 PM IS