The Palestine Olympic Committee (POC) is calling for a last-minute ban for Israeli athletes in Paris for failing to uphold the Olympic spirit.
The organisation has compiled a dossier of examples including Israeli Olympians visiting troops and posting pictures of signed missiles.
The documents have been handed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as part of papers applying for Israel to be blocked altogether.
“The reason why we’re doing this – for the human rights violations happening in Gaza, and the killings and murders of every single person,” said Nader Jayousi, the deputy secretary general of the POC.
Israeli athletes have not behaved in a way that upholds the Olympic spirit, said Mr Jayousi.
Some Israeli athletes have visited soldiers stationed in battalions near Gaza to “encourage the Israeli army”, Mr Jayousi said. One judo champion is said to have posted on social media pictures of several signed missiles, reportedly writing “from me to you with pleasure”. Israel’s judo federation said he did not sign the missile himself.
With the Olympics due to kick off on July 26, it’s highly unlikely the IOC will institute a major decision – for instance, to require Israeli athletes to compete neutrally, as is the case for Russians given Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Eight athletes will represent Palestine at the Olympics, including, for the first time, a boxer, Waseem Abu Sal.
Others include Fares Badawi in judo, Omar Yaser Ismail in taekwondo, Jorge Antonio Salhe in shooting, Yazan Al Bawwab and Valerie Tarazi in swimming, and Mohammed Dwedar and Layla Al-Masri in running.
More than 350 Palestinian athletes, coaches and other sports personnel have died in the war, estimates the POC.
Majed Abu Marheel, Palestine’s first-ever Olympian runner, who participated in the 1996 Atlanta games, died a few weeks ago due to lack of medical aid in Gaza. Hani Al-Masdar, the coach of the Palestinian Olympic football team, was killed in January by an Israeli airstrike.
One image during the early stages of the war showed Palestinian men stripped by the Israeli military and detained in a sports stadium.
Training during a war has meant getting creative. Mr Abu Sal, who is from the West Bank, a Palestinian territory, has been coached from afar by Ahmed Harara, who sends workouts online daily.
Mr Harara hails from Gaza, and is currently in Egypt, but cannot get to Mr Abu Sal given Israeli travel restrictions against Palestinians.
Israeli military checkpoints within the West Bank, too, have made it tough for Mr Abu Sal to find partners with whom to practise regularly. One sparring partner outweighs him by several classes.
“Working every day to get better and represent Palestine at the best level,” he posted on social media last June, along with a video of him training at a gym.
Just getting to the Olympics itself will also be a challenge – Mr Abu Sal will have to be allowed through Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank, cross into the neighbouring nation of Jordan, and fly onward to Paris. The last leg requires a visa – also generally hard to obtain for Palestinians.
The 20-year-old started boxing after his father brought him to Mr Jayousi’s gym in Ramallah.
“He was 11 years old, and his father said…‘Listen, this is my kid, and I think he has great talent, but he’s a street kid, he’s troubled,’” recalled Mr Jayousi, Mr Abu Sal’s first coach. “‘I need you to take him to the Olympics,’ – that’s what he said, exactly.”
The ongoing war has weighed on the athletes, as some have roots in Gaza and many have had friends and family killed in ten months of brutal fighting.
‘They are not just athletes’
Mohammed Hamada, a weightlifter from Gaza who competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, had to forego the Games this time after losing 20 kilograms while fleeing the war in Gaza, waiting nearly 40 days before being allowed to exit to Egypt.
“In the beginning, it was a surprise to all the athletes,” said Mr Jayousi. “Everyone was drained out of energy because of how tough the situation was. But we – as a Palestinian nation – we adapted to the circumstances.”
He added: “Our athletes understand that they are not just athletes. They carry the hopes and dreams for the Palestinian nation.”
They have “a big responsibility on their shoulders to present their national identity, to show how much dignity we have as Palestinians, and how much of a fighting spirit we have inside”.
Calls for a ban began last year. Then in February 26 French lawmakers requested the International Olympic Committee sanction Israel from participating in the Games under its flag.
An online petition calling for the same has garnered more than 640,000 signatures. Protests calling for Israel to be banned have also been staged at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
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