{"id":80543,"date":"2020-09-08T17:00:40","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T15:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=80543"},"modified":"2020-08-31T16:10:43","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T14:10:43","slug":"31-00-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=80543","title":{"rendered":"Israel-UAE Normalization Deal Said to Be \u2018Judo-Inspired\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Israel-UAE Normalization Deal Said to Be \u2018Judo-Inspired\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Shiryn Ghermezian<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Israeli judoka Peter Paltchik is pictured with UAE judo officials the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in October 2018. Photo: Peter Palchick.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The International Judo Federation (IJF) and three Israeli judokas agree that the sport played a role in the historic normalization agreement<\/a> announced by the Jewish state and the UAE last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

IJF published a story<\/a> on its website that celebrated the accord, saying, \u201cWhat if we also told you that it is a judo-inspired agreement? Many would not believe us, although they should.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we address the topic of the pioneers, those who encouraged this rapprochement, those who inspired and promoted an agreement that, at that time, seemed if not impossible, at least extremely complicated, it is necessary to talk about judo,\u201d the IJF added.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2015 and 2017, Israeli judokas competed in the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam but were not permitted to showcase any national identification on their uniforms, and they were told that Israel\u2019s anthem and flag would not be presented.<\/span><\/p>\n

Twelve Israeli judokas brought home five medals from the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in 2017 and they were all forced to compete under the banner of the IJF. When Israeli judoka Tal Flicker was awarded a gold medal, the IJF flag was raised, and he quietly sang \u201cHatikvah\u201d<\/a> to himself as the IJF\u2019s anthem played in the background.<\/span><\/p>\n

The IJF subsequently suspended<\/a> the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam tournament in an effort to take a \u201cfirm and constructive stance in the fight against discrimination in sport.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tournament organizers then agreed to abide by the IJF rules and the tournament was reinstated.<\/span><\/p>\n

In its story last week, the IJF recalled the sporting breakthrough between Israel and the UAE in October 2018 at the Abu Dhabi Glam Slam when Israeli judokas Sagi Muki and Peter Paltchik individually won gold medals, which led to the raising of the Israeli flag and the playing of \u201cHatikvah\u201d for the first time in the history of the competition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s sports minister at the time, Miri Regev, was also invited to award the medal to Muki.<\/span><\/p>\n

The IJF said:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Judo smashed down the walls of misunderstanding and anger and for that we want to congratulate the signatories of the agreement from here. If Donald Trump wishes to appropriate the success and paternity of the gestation of the pact, it seems great to us because, after all, Trump himself organized an international judo tournament in Florida a few years ago, before he was ever a candidate for the White House. Maybe he drew on memories, maybe our values were a source of inspiration. In any case, his mediation has been decisive. But, if you allow us an ephemeral exercise of false modesty, we claim our share in this historic development.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Muki told The Algemeiner<\/em> this week that judo had in fact served as \u201ca bridge\u201d for normalization between UAE and Israel, starting in 2015, when Israeli judokas first competed in the Abu Dhabi Glam Slam, and especially with the accomplishments Israel achieved at the 2018 competition in terms of the country\u2019s flag being displayed and \u201cHatikvah\u201d being played.<\/span><\/p>\n

The gold medalist, 28, even recalled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling him after his 2018 victory in Abu Dhabi and thanking him for helping the national efforts to create peace between the two countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Israeli Olympic judoka Ori Sasson similarly told The Algemeiner<\/em> that the accomplishment of having \u201cHatikvah\u201d played at the 2018 Abu Dhabi Glam Slam helped \u201cpave the road for an open, strong and lasting peace\u201d between the two countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMany times we [athletes] see ourselves as the ambassadors of Israel,\u201d the 30-year-old said. \u201cWe reach places like the UAE in which we don\u2019t have diplomatic relationships and then they play \u2018Hatikvah\u2019 for the first time. These are people-to-people relationships on a grassroots level that many times pave the road for an open, strong and lasting peace\u2026I do believe that our judo team had a contribution, even if a small one, to this wonderful peace deal with the UAE.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Paltchik, 28, explained it differently, telling The Algemeiner<\/em>, \u201cWas the agreement signed because of us? No. Have we shown that we can live in peace with each other? Yes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that this peace agreement is the result and combination of quite a few events and interests in the Middle East,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe that sports in general and judo events, in particular, have been a catalyst for understanding that in the end we are all people and working together well can help us build a better Middle East for our child\u2019s future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur reality in the Middle East consists of over 100 years of conflict, but the sports competitions that give everyone a chance to compete show that it is possible otherwise,\u201d Paltchik added. \u201cI was excited and happy about the opportunity to come to Abu Dhabi and compete, and I was even happier to do so when I represent the State of Israel and not the World Judo Association.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, following the normalization deal, Paltchik hopes that Israel and the UAE can cooperate and train their athletes together.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said, \u201cI know we will be happy to host them here and will be very happy to fly there as ambassadors of goodwill representing a message of peace and brotherhood. I hope the walls that separate us fall.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Israel-UAE Normalization Deal Said to Be \u2018Judo-Inspired\u2019 Shiryn Ghermezian Israeli judoka Peter Paltchik is pictured with UAE judo officials the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in October 2018. Photo: Peter Palchick. The International Judo Federation (IJF) and three Israeli judokas agree that the sport played a role in the historic normalization agreement announced by the Jewish state and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80543"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80543"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80719,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80543\/revisions\/80719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}