Israeli official implies call for Olympics ban for athletes is ‘unsportsmanlike’
An official with Israel’s Foreign Ministry has suggested that calls from the Palestine Olympic Committee (POC) for a ban on Israeli athletes participating in the Paris Olympics over the war on Gaza is unfair.
“Siri: define unsportsmanlike conduct,” Tammy Rahamimoff-Honig, the deputy head of the ministry’s division for strategic affairs, wrote on X.
Rahamimoff-Honig’s post came in response to a last-minute bid from the POC calling for a ban on Israeli athletes at the games in Paris, which start on July 26, as they say some have failed to uphold the Olympic spirit.
The POC cited examples including Israeli Olympians visiting troops and posting pictures of signed missiles used by Israel in its war on Gaza, in which about 39,000 people have been killed.
“The reason why we’re doing this – for the human rights violations happening in Gaza, and the killings and murders of every single person,” said Nader Jayousi, the deputy secretary-general of the POC, The Telegraph reports.
Siri: define unsportsmanlike conduct#OlympicGames pic.twitter.com/Oohv6b9039
— 🎗️Tammy Rahamimoff-Honig (@RahamimoffTamar) July 20, 2024
Jewish senator to skip Netanyahu speech to US Congress
Senator Brian Schatz has said he will not attend a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a joint session of the US Congress in Washington DC on July 24.
The Jewish Democrat from Hawaii criticised what he said was a “partisan address to Congress just months ahead” of the US presidential elections.
“Nine months after the atrocities of October 7 and the ensuing conflict, negotiations for a ceasefire and the release of all hostages are ongoing – and that should be the focus,” he said.
“As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I welcome a substantive discussion about the future, not political rhetoric that will do nothing to bring peace in the region. I therefore will not attend Wednesday’s address,” he added.
Schatz joins several high-profile Democrats, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, and independent Senator Bernie Sanders in boycotting Netanyahu’s speech.
