In line with the global efforts to isolate the Zionist entity in all fields: politically, economically, artistically, culturally, academically, and athletically, and because of the genocide it is committing in the Gaza Strip and its ongoing aggression on the West Bank and southern Lebanon, the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of “Israel” in Lebanon with the global boycott movement and other Arab boycott groups participated in a twitter campaign on March 14, 2024, through which we aimed to pressure the International Olympic Committee to ban the Zionist entity from the Olympic Games, which will begin on July 26 of this year in the French capital, Paris. A few days after the tweet storm, on March 21, we sent a letter to the Lebanese Olympic Committee urging it to take a position in support of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and submit it to the International Olympic Committee, which has the authority to ban the entity from participating in the Paris Olympics. We based our request on previous incidents that demonstrated the possibility of the International Committee intervening to prevent or restrict the participation of certain countries.
We received a response from the Lebanese Olympic Committee approximately twenty days following our communication with them, in which they confirmed their position calling for “an immediate cessation of the war and relief for the oppressed people,” but at the same time avowed their inability to involve politics in sports. They explained that they and the rest of the Olympic committees received a letter from the International Olympic Committee on March 19, entitled: Declaration by the IOC against the politicisation of sport, reminding them of the need to “implement Article No. RES/78/10/A, of the International Olympic Charter, which recommends non-interference in political matters and calls for peace.” Here we ask out loud: Has not the call to implement international law and the standards of the International Olympic Committee itself, as we will see in the Russian and Belarusian cases, become the involvement of politics in sports? The position of the International Olympic Committee and its recent message may explain the lack of response of the Olympic committees in other Arab countries to the messages of the boycott campaigns in those countries, out of fear of the “warning” that reached them, because these committees follow the International Olympic Committee and it is their sole reference according to the Olympic Charter, as the Lebanese Committee confirmed to us.
The International Olympic Committee makes the rules but does not enforce them.
The press release issued by the International Committee on 19 March 2023 [1] stipulates that sports organizations within the Olympic movement must follow the principle of “political neutrality,” and confirms the UN General Assembly’s explicit recognition of the basic principles of the Olympic Charter. How did this alleged political neutrality manifest itself in the work of the International Committee? Perhaps the most prominent issue that contributed to revealing many of the contradictions in the positions of the International Committee, and the most recent of which was during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as the International Committee rushed to condemn the Russian invasion only hours after it began, and was among the first international organizations – by its own admission – to impose sanctions on the Russian and Belarusian governments. However, it did not issue any statement explicitly condemning the “Israeli” war of extermination in Gaza[2]. At that time, and within a few days, the International Olympic Committee issued three statements: [3]
24 February 2022: The IOC strongly condemns the violation of the Olympic Truce.
25 February: The IOC Executive Board urges all International Federations to relocate or cancel their sporting events currently planned in Russia or Belarus.
28 February: The IOC Executive Board recommends that Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials not participate.
Several months ago, it decided to suspend the membership of the Russian Olympic Committee due to its inclusion of regional sports organizations subject to the Ukrainian Olympic Committee, and it also suspended the membership of the Belarusian Committee. In addition to all of this, the committee imposes conditions on Russian and Belarusian players in order for them to be able to participate in sports, and the implementation of these conditions is divided into two stages. The first stage is to verify the player’s positions, and anyone who supports the Russian war or supports the Russian army (including expressing his support on social media or participating in demonstrations and movements) is prevented from participating in the Olympic Games [4] .
Whoever passes the first stage is allowed to participate in the Olympic Games, but as a neutral individual player who plays under the Olympic flag, not the Russian or Belarusian flag. He is not allowed to carry any national symbol or emblem, and his country’s national anthem is not played. He cannot participate in team games that require a national team [5] . In short, the committee imposed politically motivated sports isolation on Russian and Belarusian players.
What about reciprocity in the case of the Zionist entity? The number of Israeli Olympic athletes in the Israeli army is estimated at about 150 [6] , and the Israeli army even grants them special privileges so that they can participate in the Paris Olympics. [7]
The International Olympic Committee relied on the following justifications to make its decision regarding Russia and Belarus, and ignored similar justifications in the Israeli case:
First, the committee accused Russia of violating the so-called Olympic Truce [8] , a non-binding rule adopted by the UN General Assembly calling on countries to cease all hostilities from the seventh day before the opening of the Olympic Games until the seventh day after their closing.
Russia itself violated the Olympic Truce in the war with Georgia in 2008, and in the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the United States in more than one of its many wars, [9] and these violations did not result in any sanctions such as those recently taken against Russia and Belarus.
Secondly, it accused it of violating the Olympic Charter by including sports bodies in Ukrainian areas illegally occupied by Russia.
What about football matches taking place in Israeli settlements that are, according to international law, occupied territory? Do they not at least deserve the international delegitimization of the Israeli Federation and the imposition of sanctions on it? [10]
Football was the first team sport to be included in the Olympic Games. [11] When the Russian Foreign Minister stated that the International Olympic Committee was practicing double standards, the latter found no better response than the empty response: The Russian case is unique and cannot be compared to any other case in the world! [12] Doesn’t this confirm the interference of politics in sports, which contradicts the laws enacted by the International Committee itself, which it demands that national committees abide by?
Between Palestine and Ukraine.. Double standards
The Olympic Charter stipulates that sports is a human right[13], but will this remain mere ink on paper whenever it comes to Palestine and its people? Didn’t the Olympic Committee send a letter in which more than 300 Palestinian sports clubs and civil society organizations explained the reasons for banning the Zionist entity from the Paris Olympics? [14] Were the photos and video clips that spread of the Israeli army invading the Yarmouk Stadium, one of the oldest stadiums in Palestine, and turning it into a detention and torture center for Palestinian children, women and men not enough for the Olympic Committee? Didn’t the International Olympic Committee hear about the Israeli army killing 182 Palestinian athletes during the current aggression, and destroying 55 sports facilities in Gaza and the West Bank [15]? Didn’t the appeals of the Palestinian Olympic Committee reach them, so that the International Committee would decide to condemn the Zionist entity or impose sanctions on its players that would oblige them to play as neutral individuals, or to show sympathy for the Palestinians as it requires Russian athletes to show with the Ukrainians? It seems that the answer is no! On the contrary, the President of the Committee, Thomas Bach, reassures the “Israeli” side about its participation in the Olympic Games by saying, “No, there is no doubt about this matter” [16] .
The International Olympic Committee does not miss an opportunity to express its full support for Ukrainian athletes and by all possible means to ensure their ability to continue training and participate in competitions and cover the costs of travel, training facilities, accommodation, equipment and uniforms… [17] , but it seems to completely ignore the suffering of Palestinian athletes.
The Zionist entity did not abide by the “binding” Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during the month of Ramadan, and before that it did not abide by the decisions of the International Court of Justice, and therefore the International Olympic Committee is facing a test of its credibility: if the war on Gaza continues until the Olympic Games, how will the International Committee deal with this violation?
Finally , we cannot but emphasize the absolute collapse of the myth of separating sports from politics, and the political neutrality of the International Olympic Committee, as its positions on the Russian war in Ukraine, and the war of extermination in Gaza are based on double standards that are nothing but a clear representation of the balance of political power; as Russia and Belarus are punished for actions that “Israel” commits, in many cases far worse in the “Israeli” case, while it escapes punishment consistently.
The world’s conscience is being tested in Gaza… Down with the hypocrites!
Campaign to Boycott Supporters of “Israel” in Lebanon
4-22-2024
[1] https://olympics.com/ioc/news/declaration-by-the-ioc-against-the-politicisation-of-sport
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/jan/18/the-case-for-sports-sanctions-against-israel
[3] https://olympics.com/ioc/media/qa-on-solidarity-with-ukraine-sanctions-against-russia-and-belarus-and-the-status-of-athletes-from-these-countries
[4] Ibid
[5] https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/News/2023/03/Participation-for-Individual-Neutral-Athletes-Personnel-with-a-Russian-or-Belarusian-Passport.pdf
[6]
[7] Click here .
[8] https://www.un.org/ar/olympictruce
[9] https://jacobin.com/2024/01/israel-russia-war-invastion-olympics https://apnews.com/article/what-is-the-olympic-truce-5ea915f2f856d2b1c5edba2e9fc23cbe
[10] https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/09/25/israel/palestine-fifa-sponsoring-games-seized-land
[11] https://olympics.com/ioc/federation-internationale-de-football-association
[ 12] https://www.reuters.com/sports/iocs-ban-russia-cannot-be-compared-with-israel-situation-2023-11-03/
[13] https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/General/EN-Olympic-Charter.pdf?_ga=2.10471669.1942170944.1704194237-1208417585.1704194237 [14] https://bdsmovement.net/iocbanisrael [15] https://www.pfa.ps/news/4378.html
[16]
[17 ] https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-issues-recommendations-for-international-federations-and-international-sports-event-organisers