authoritarian swine, hatred of Jews, Israel

Olympic bigotry

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When a TZP supporter first sent this news item, I didn’t think much about it. Saudi judo competitor Joud Fahmy forfeited a first-round match against a woman from Mauritius. Word in Israel was that she did it to avoid facing an Israeli Jew, Gili Cohen, in the second round.

Fahmy said she was injured and couldn’t compete. I thought, “Well, maybe she really was.” After all, if her purpose was to avoid contact with Cohen, why not go ahead and compete in the first round and see whether that would even become an issue? If she’d have lost in the first round … no need to touch a Jew. So it was certainly possible she really was injured and not just avoiding contact.

But this morning comes word of a blatant, public act of bigotry. In men’s judo, an Egyptian competitor snottily snubbed the Israeli who beat him.

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It was an elaborate, unmistakable triple snub. Islam El Shehaby (in blue) first refused the traditional bow (a sign of respect that’s part of judo’s very fiber). Then he refused to walk to the middle of the mat for a handshake with the victor, Or Sasson. Finally, he refused Sasson’s offered hand when the gracious Israeli walked across the mat to him.

It’s unfortunate that the Olympics (partly thanks to Hitler in 1936) have become such a show of nationalism, rather than a celebration of the hard work and talents of awesome individuals. But there’s just no civilized excuse for El Shehaby’s behavior.

In the context, he came across not only as a pathetically sore loser, but as a disgusting bigot. You’re willing to do hand-to-hand combat with an Israeli individual, but not to shake his hand afterward? Shame on you, you foul creature and the foul dogma that motivates you.

Unlike some of my colleagues here at TZP, I’m no giant fan of Israel. I consider it a necessary homeland for a people who’ve been homeless, vulnerable, and fatally abused far too long. But its government is a government like any other and sometimes does objectionable things, even appalling things. But then, what government doesn’t? When it comes to appalling things done specifically to Muslims and Arabs, they should look to some of their own governments and neighboring Islamic governments, where savagery, corruption, oppression, and suppression of individualism have been the norm for centuries. Israel has been a piker when it comes to harming Muslims.

But even if that were not so, to show such public contempt for a man who, just moments earlier, was your honorable competitor is inexcusable.

Apparently the International Judo Federation considers it a sign of progress that an Arab was even willing to compete against an Israeli Jew. But I’m glad to learn that the audience in Rio gave the bigot a resounding round of righteous contempt for his unsportsmanlike and soulless conduct.

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4 thoughts on “Olympic bigotry”

  1. It is my hope that the International Judo Federation would kick this person out of the federation for at least one olympic cycle. There is simply no excuse for such behavior. If a Russian competitor had done this to an American, the uproar would have been intense, to say the least, and we would have been talking about it on the world stage. However, since it is just another case of one more slam against Israel, oh well, a little blip, and then it’s forgotten in the grand scheme of things. After all, Israel does bad things against the Palestinians all the time, and so what is one little snub at the Olympics? In Judo, of all possible sports? It’s not like it were a mainstream event like men’s swimming or women’s gymnastics. And so, once again we see Israel’s image put down, in a similar fashion as the death by a thousand cuts. I understand Claire’s lack of enthusiasm for the government of Israel. Quite frankly, they do seem to follow a crooked path at times, going from one extreme to the opposite. For myself, I still must remain firmly entrenched on the side of Israel. It is a position that I have taken since my youth, and one which I cannot turn from.

      1. That he was only mildly reprimanded by the IOC is of course, no surprise, but that his own country did something so drastic is actually a shock to me. I think it is a just move and one that is trying to send a message, certainly, which I hope is that the Olympic games are about sportsmanship and that bigotry will not be tolerated. Trying to read anything more into that move is wishful thinking, and as much as I wish it would be a signal of a new tolerance for Israel, I am sure that it is not.
        We have to be happy when people do the right thing. I seldom watch or even listen to reports of the Olympics anymore. It is no longer about the best amateur athletes competing, as we all know. There was a time when I could envision myself competing at some level with these athletes, and stood in their shoes with them, as an American, while they represented the ideal of sportsmanship. Perhaps that is why I was so disgusted by the display of this defeated Judo Olympian. He showed the ugly side of the nature of games and what they have become.
        Hopefully someday once again, we will return to celebrating the Olympics as the competition of true athletes from all countries seeking nothing more than to compete on the field of honor.

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