A French hard-left MP sparked a political row Sunday by saying Israeli athletes were not welcome at the Paris Olympics because of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which one senior minister said had "hints of anti-Semitism".In a post on X, Arfi branded Portes's comments "irresponsible" and accused him of "legitimising Hamas", the Palestinian militant group whose October 7 attacks on Israel sparked the Gaza war.
The original comment is that Israeli athletes are already here on the Olympics, and the only thing this can achieve now is drive hostility to those who arrived. This is dangerous.
If you welcomed the athletes, make sure they are safe and can focus on training and competing.
And my comment points out that it was the wrong decision to allow them here.
The idea that the “only” thing it can achieve is to drive hostility to those who have arrived is an untested assertion. For example, how about the majority of French people who are horrified at Israel’s policies? They are given voice by this statement.
I would argue that allowing Israel to compete as though nothing is wrong is more dangerous, because ten times as many people are murdered in Palestine per week than there are Israeli athletes in Paris, none of whom are likely to die even if this statement whips the entire country into a murderous rage.
It’s just a general assertion that if you let a person in your country, you treat them as anyone else.
Besides, those athletes have done nothing wrong except being born in a country whose leadership decided to go full bloody. They need those performances for their professional career, and that’s why they went there anyway.
Being horrified by the war doesn’t mean being hostile to the Olympic team. I, for one, am full pro-Palestine in a war, but fail to see why we should transform it into hostility towards Israeli athletes. Same with many people in France, I assume.
It is debatable whether Israel should have been allowed; on one side, not letting them in would be a political sign, on the other, it could radicalize people and cut the ties that were in place to promote peace of all things.
But athletes themselves did nothing wrong unless personally endorsing the genocide, and shouldn’t be treated like unwelcome invaders.
And there’s no point comparing it to the death toll of Palestinians; two wrongs don’t make a right. Sure, conflict in Gaza is a much more urgent and serious problem, but that doesn’t mean hostility against Israeli athletes should be ignored.
It’s not a war; it’s a genocide.
And Israel’s crimes don’t stop there.
Doesn’t really make a difference in what I say.
To me, a war can be genocidal, and this one is. And peace times can have apartheid, which has also taken place.
It does make a bit of difference. There’s only one side you can be on in a genocide.
Any country committing a genocide should have all of its privileges taken away. One example of this is having its athletes compete in the Olympics.
Any country committing genocide should be stopped from being able to commit it. That means putting meaningful sanctions that impact military complex and, when possible, directly confronting the force on the battlefield.
Not restricting athletes who have nothing to do with this from competing.
People seemingly forget that a country is not a singular entity or a hive mind. Actual people live there, and those who do not endorse violence shouldn’t face struggles and consequences because of those who do - at least to a practical degree. Punishing athletes for the actions of Israeli command is picking a wrong target.
Not in the slightest. I’m aware that a country isn’t a monolith. Unfortunately, the country as a whole celebrates its victories in sporting events. These athletes shouldn’t be punished, true. But the politicians who are committing genocide should. Their ability to celebrate their nation and to receive international acclaim is unfortunately tied up in their athlete’s careers.
Allowing Israel to participate is validating a genocidal apartheid ethnostate. The athletes wear that flag.