Alwaght- The Israeli continuation of unceasing massacre in Gaza has overshadowed many international developments including the Paris Olympics. Rights activists in some countries have recently called for boycotting the upcoming games in Paris for presence of the Israelis in them.
Media estimates on Gaza suggest that since the start of the war in October last year, around 350 Palestinian athletes have been killed in Gaza due to Israeli aggression. This figure includes at least 250 footballers. Palestinian local media also announced this week that a famous football goalkeeper named Abu Al-A'araj from Khan Yunis was killed in the Israeli attack on Al-Mawasi camp. At least 90 other Palestinians who took shelter were killed in the deadly attack on Al-Mawasi, and the Palestinian ministry of health announced that half of the casualties of the recent bombardment in the camp were women and children.
List of Gaza athletes killed by Israeli bombing
There is a long list of martyred athelets in Gaza. Wasim Ayman Abu Adib was one of the members of the Palestinian track and field team who was killed with his whole family this week in Israeli bombing of his house in Khan Younis. Abu Adib won the U-20 Arab Nations Championship in Jordan in 2018 and the West Asian Men's and Women's Championship in 2018, the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018, and the Tunisian Championship in 2021.
According to Palestinian media, in the field of football, athletes such as Nadhir Al-Nashash, Rashid Debour, Mohammad Al-Rafi, Bara Madhat, Haitham Al-Arir (goalkeeper), Mohammad Al-Ghazali, in basketball, athletes such as Amir Al-Hallu Abu Al-Saoud (former coach), Tahsin Talib, Sama Al-Jabari ( on wheelchair), Raghad al-Jabari (on wheelchair), Jamna al-Masri, Siwar al-Madhoun, in volleyball, people such as Mohammad Muntadi Zeid, Wissam Jadallah (coach of the Palestinian national team), Mohammad Darabieh (referee), Anas Hamdan, Rami Abu Showish, and in wrestling people such as Manaser Abu Sharokh, Saeed Abu Rukba, Thaer Abu al-Tin and other people in other sports fields such as Abdul Rahim Lowa Khashan (Taekwondo), Abdul Hafiz Al-Mabho (Judo), Sin Sabah (Ping Pong) and Ashraf Murad (Baseball) were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
The list is long and these names are only part of the athletes who were killed in Gaza war by the Israeli attacks over the past 9 months.
Changing sports halls into detention sites
In addition to the martyrdom of dozens of athletes, more than 80 percent of the sports facilities in Gaza have been destroyed. In May, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor pointed out that hundreds of athletes in Gaza have been banned from practicing sports and participating in world competitions, and reported that more than 80 percent of sports facilities in this coastal enclave, including football stadiums and halls and gyms, have been destroyed. The Israelis have gone even farther and turned sports halls into detention centers.
Palestinian Chronicle news outlet reported that the main goal of Israeli massacre in Gaza is destruction of all aspects of life in Gaza including sports. The Palestinian Football Association announced last week that at least 350 Palestinian athletes have been killed since October 7. Indeed this figure does not include some very young athletes who played as amateur athletes.
In addition, according to Palestinian statistics, more than 55 sports buildings have been destroyed in the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.
International Olympics Committee accomplice to Israel
Now many ask the question that why nobody reacts when the Israelis hit athelets and why the Palestinian athletes are victim to the Israeli occupation's war on Gaza. This comes while Russia is banned from the games for Ukraine war but the Western leaders have so far not talked about banning Israel from Paris Olympics despite ongoing Gaza genocide while many demand the Olympics boycott for Israeli presence. Some critics have said that the IOC is accomplice to the Israelis for allowing Israeli athelets to join the games despite crimes in Gaza.
Helen Sylert, a human rights activist and political expert from Sweden, in an interview with Anadolu news agency said that it is hypocritical of the West that the IOC bans athelets from South Africa, Balurus, and Russia, but it finds no reason to ban Israel. Pointing that about 100 Israeli athelets are taking part in Paris games, she said that the ban of Israelis was not even raised while Russia and Balurus were banned for war on Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Al-Quds Al-Arabi news site reported a few months ago that 26 members representing two left-wing opposition parties in France, including the Unsubmissive France and the Green that are affiliated with NUPES coalition, sent a letter to the IOC head Thomas Bach condemning the Israeli crimes and calling for banning the Israelis from the Olympics. They said that Israeli athelets have no right to participate with their flag for "Israeli war crimes on Palestinian people" and should join the games as neutrals.
Records of Olympics boycott
The calls for boycott are not new nor are they being made for the first time in history of the games. The Olympics, the world's biggest sports event in the world, have always been mixed with politics and since the initiation of the games in 1896, they have been hit by protests and boycott.
During their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem. The demonstration has been called one of the most overtly political statements in the history of the modern Olympics. 22 African countries boycotted the 1976 Montreal Olympics in protest of New Zealand's participation because of the country's rugby team tour of apartheid South Africa.
Also, in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the US imposed sanctions in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which resulted in 65 countries refusing to participate. In response to the 1980 US boycott, 14 Eastern Bloc countries, led by the Soviet Union, boycotted the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
And now, Paris games will certainly be overshadowed by the ongoing Israeli massacre in Gaza. The Israeli attack on Gaza has come to a point that is beyond genocide and despicable, and even indescribable. A major part of Gaza is now under siege and denied food, water, and medicine. Additionally, Israel is charged with genocide by the International Court of Justice and presence of this regime despite its heinous crimes in the Olympics will certainly be embarrassing to the IOC officials.
