Anti-Semitism In Rio: Israeli Olympic Team Competing With Hate

MichaEL Sawdy

Nearly 45 years after 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics, anti-semitism toward the Jewish State still rears it ugly head at the largest international sports competition. While, thank God, the hatred of the Jews by their muslim opponents has not led to acts of terror at the Games since ’72, still the venomous hatred toward Israel never dies. The Anti-Defamation League released a statement after recent racist acts against the Israeli Olympic Team, saying, “These days, anti-Israel vio­lence at the Olympics has been replaced by anti-Israel politics, with representatives from countries hostile to the Jewish State going to great lengths to avoid any interaction with Israeli athletes.” If it was just one incident, we could attribute it to one hateful soul; but sadly since the start of the RIO Olympics last weekend, there have been numerous acts of anti-semitism against the Israeli delegation.

The string of anti-Israel incidents began 2 days before the Opening Ceremonies, as Facebook omitted the Israeli flag on it’s Olympics page last Wednesday. After a complaint by the Olympic Committee of Israel, the flag was finally added Thursday night. No other country’s flags were left out. So, a “technical issue” or an “overlooked mistake” are not valid excuses. It was obvious and blatant rejection of Israel by the anti-Israel social media platform. I’ve raised this issue for years, but because Mark Zuckerberg (the founder and CEO of Facebook) is Jewish, he gets away with anti-Israel bigotry. Many secular Jews oppose Biblical beliefs, so Zuckerberg opposing Israel is not out of the ordinary. He is what us Holy Bible believers refer to as a “Jew in name only”, like the uber-liberal politician Bernie Sanders. After news broke of Facebook leaving Israel out of it’s list of nations, it released the following statement:

“We experienced a short-lived ‘technical issue’ that prevented the Olympic profile frames for some countries from being displayed correctly in the profile picture selection menu.” This is a false statement. “Some countries” were not omitted, only ISRAEL was.

As the Games officially began last week, so too began the blatant acts of disrespect, hostility, hatred and downright anti-semitism against the Israelis by teams from Islamic nations. On August 5th, the Team from Lebanon refused to share a bus with the Israelis, which took the athletes to the opening ceremony, even though they had been designated to share the bus. When the bus driver opened the door, the head of the Lebanese delegation blocked the aisle and entrance. The Olympic organizers, choosing to avoid an international and physical incident, sent the Israelis away to a different bus. Many around the world were enraged by this event.

Miri Regev, the Israeli minister of culture and sports, blasted the Lebanese incident as “anti-Semitism, pure and simple, and the worst kind of racism.” The Lebanese delegation head who blocked the Israelis from entering the bus, Saleem al-Haj Nacoula, was reportedly hailed in Islamic Lebanon as a “hero”. He said in a statement, “I was surprised to see the Israeli delegation approaching and trying to get on. I told the bus driver to close the door, but a trainer who was with the Israelis prevented him from doing so. I had to physically block him and the rest of the delegation from boarding.” While an act like this is not an act of terror or murder against Jews like in 1972, it is just as abhorrent that this kind of racism is cheered by some and that they are treated as a non-existent people. This Lebanese delegation might as well put swastikas on their Olympic team uniforms. Imagine the media uproar if any other Olympic team would have refused to share a bus with an all black delegation. Why is it acceptable when it’s the Jews?!?

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