When it comes to Israel, the Arab world isn’t a good sport
Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s relations with the Arab world were better than ever.
“There is cooperation in various ways, on various levels, but is not yet out in the open. But what is not yet out in the open is much greater than in any other period in Israeli history. This is a major change,” he gushed.
Indeed, there has been much security cooperation and intelligence sharing since Israel and the pragmatic Arab regimes found common enemies in Iran and radical Sunni Islamists. But even as Netanyahu seems to talk about it all the time, his Arab partners insist everything remain hush-hush.
For the time being, Arab countries are refusing to recognize the State of Israel and reject any overt manifestation of collaboration with the Zionist entity — no exceptions, no common courtesies, no fair play.
That’s why on Thursday, when an Israeli athlete won a gold medal at a judo tournament in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Israel’s national anthem wasn’t played and its flag wasn’t hoisted. Indeed, due to the Emirates’ boycott of Israel, the Israeli judokas in the tournament competed under the “flag” of the International Judo Federation (IJF).
After Herzliyah native Tal Flicker beat Nijat Shikhalizada of Azerbaijan to take the gold, the “national anthem of the International Judo Federation” was played in the hall. Meanwhile, Flicker mouthed his own “Hatikvah,” giving his Israeli compatriots a modicum of pride.
Boycott-defying judo champ says he sang Israeli anthem ‘from the heart’
Israeli judoka Tal Flicker, who won a gold medal on Thursday at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam judo tournament, said he defied the host Arab state’s boycott on displaying Israeli symbols and playing Israel’s national anthem at the victory ceremony by shutting out the “background noise” and singing “Hatikvah” himself.UAE judoka refuses to shake hands as Israeli beats him in Abu Dhabi tournament
As tournament organizers played the anthem of the International Judo Federation’s (IJF) when Flicker stood on the podium with his medal, he sang the Israeli national anthem.
“The world federation anthem that they played was just background noise,” he told Channel 2 news. “I was singing ‘Hatikvah’ from the heart.”
“I’m proud of my country,” he said. “The whole world knows that we’re from Israel, knows who we represent.”
Flicker’s win in Abu Dhabi added to two previous championship victories he has already achieved this year.
He was born in 1992 in the central city of Herzliya, where he was also raised.
A judoka from the United Arab Emirates refused to shake the hand of the Israeli rival who defeated him at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam judo tournament Friday, a day after the UAE refused to play the Israeli national anthem or fly the Israeli flag for medal-winning Israeli athletes at the competition.
Israel’s Tohar Butbul, competing in the men’s lightweight (66-73 kg) category, came up against the UAE’s Rashad Almashjari in the first round. After being defeated by Butbul, Almashjari refused the customary handshake with the Israeli.
Butbul went on to win a bronze medal in his category — by defeating Italy’s 2016 Olympic gold medalist; it was Israel’s third medal in the competition.
The no-handshake episode was reminiscent of one that occurred during the 2016 Summer Olympics, when Egyptian judoka Islam El Shahaby refused to shake hands with Ori Sasson after being defeated by the Israeli, and only begrudgingly made the obligatory end-of-match bow after being being called back to the mat by the referee.
BBC News and BBC Sport ignore Judo tournament anti-Israel bigotry
A major Judo tournament organised by the International Judo Federation is taking place in Abu Dhabi between October 26th and 28th.
However – and not for the first time – members of the Israeli team taking part in that tournament have been barred from displaying the Israeli flag.
“The blue-and-white delegation to the final Grand Slam competition of the year is set to include 12 athletes, but Israel Judo Association chairman Moshe Ponte was informed by the organizers that they won’t be able to have the Israel flag on their judo uniform, as they do in every other event across the world. Instead of having ISR (Israel) by their names on the scoreboard and on their backs, they will have to take part in the contest as representatives of the IJF (International Judo Federation). The national anthem will also not be played, should an Israeli win a gold medal.”
The BBC Sport website (which usually displays an interest in reporting bigotry and discrimination in sport) has no coverage of that story either on its home page or on its Judo page. The BBC News website’s Middle East page similarly did not find this story of blatant discrimination in sport newsworthy.