An MP for the radical-left France Unbowed party has sparked outrage after saying Israeli athletes are not welcome at the Paris Olympics and calling for protests against their presence.
Citing Israel’s war in Gaza, Thomas Portes told a pro-Palestinian gathering in Paris on Saturday: “We are just a few days away from an international event to be held in Paris, the Olympic Games. And I’m here to say that no, the Israeli delegation is not welcome in Paris. Israeli athletes are not welcome at the Olympic Games in Paris. We have to use this deadline and all the levers we have to mobilise.”
Yonathan Arfi, the head of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF), described the comments as “indecent” and “irresponsible”, accusing Portes of “putting a target on the backs of Israeli athletes”.
Arfi reminded the MP that 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics and said the country’s Olympians were “already the most in danger” at the Games.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
An MP for the radical-left France Unbowed party has sparked outrage after saying Israeli athletes are not welcome at the Paris Olympics and calling for protests against their presence.
Yonathan Arfi, the head of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF), described the comments as “indecent” and “irresponsible”, accusing Portes of “putting a target on the backs of Israeli athletes”.
Arfi reminded the MP that 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics and said the country’s Olympians were “already the most in danger” at the Games.
Portes later told Le Parisien newspaper that French diplomats should put pressure on the International Olympic Committee to ban the Israeli flag and anthem at the Games, which open on Friday, “as is done for Russia”.
The French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said: “The hints of antisemitism in his [Portes’] comments are obvious.”
Israel’s football team is scheduled to play its first match of the Olympics against Mali in Paris’s Parc des Princes stadium on Wednesday, two days before the opening ceremony.
The original article contains 366 words, the summary contains 176 words. Saved 52%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Ah yes we are absolved from all our currently ongoing crimes, due to previous crimes committed against our ancestors. Logic much.
*due to previous crimes committed against our ancestors as retaliation for the exact same thing we’re doing right now
It’s geopolitical narcissism. This is DARVO (deny, attack, reverse victim and offender).
If you’re American and don’t like this then know we’ve got a gigantic splinter in our own eye.
I mean, Hitler was at the Olympics. What have these athletes done to personally contribute to genocide? Should Americans be unwelcome for Vietnam? Iraq? Afghanistan? Gitmo? Any of the various coups in South America? Grenada?
Just a thought. Not sure of the correct course of action here.
What have these athletes done to personally contribute to genocide?
They might have not anything wrong. That’s why they should be allowed to compete under a neutral banner.
A recognition for all the hard work they have done. But Israel the terrorist state should not be recognised.
Just read another article and found this. I havent checked the quality of this news source but here u go:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/christina-assi
We have requested a ban of Israel at the Olympics because we believe that such ethics don’t reflect the spirit of the Olympics," POC deputy secretary-general Nader Jayousi toldKyodo News, pointing to evidence including Israeli athletes visiting IDF troops and posting pictures of signed bombs.
Jayousi said it “should be the concern of the IOC” that Israelis who are “proud of slaughtering people”—a clear violation of the Olympic spirit—are set to compete in Paris.
That’s fair I think
Yes, US athletes absolutely should not be welcome for the many atrocities their country has commited and still comitts.
Russian athletes are not allowed to partake as russians and need to use neutral colors, flags, anthems and are not allowed to be supported by russian organisations duevto their invasion of Ukraine. The same should be applied to Israelis and US athletes.
Maybe that’s reasonable. Where do we draw the line? What’s the statute of limitations on an atrocity? What is terrible enough to warrant a ban? What about having capital punishment? Depending on where you draw the line, I feel like a lot of the world would be stripped of their colors at the Olympics, which to me feels like it defeats the purpose.
ty for your take
edit: added example
This really is the right answer, as much as I despise what Israel is doing.
The Olympics should be about increasing non-hostile relations between people of the world and I don’t think anyone should be excluded.
Complicating this stance though is the compulsory military service that means that the attending athletes are associated with the military and the ongoing atrocities.
If your neighbor is under investigation for murdering their spouse and children, do you invite them to the pub on Fridays in the name of improving non-hostile neighborly relations?
It’s not the right answer though. Israel is waging war against their own people in essence, not against a foreign nation.
They should be held to the same standards as Russia or worse.
Does that apply to the palestinian athletes? Oh, wait, most have been genocided already
They can compete under a new flag like the Russians did awhile ago.
already the most in danger
yeah, that’s typical fascist propaganda. “we are the victims here”, despite killing thousands of innocent civilians including women and children.
Who’s outraged, besides the war criminals?
