Israeli judoka wins gold in UAE but not under Israel flag

[leftynyc]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/israeli-judoka-wins-gold-uae-israel-flag-50753442


Tal Flicker won gold on Thursday in the men's under-66 kilogram (145 pounds) competition at the Judo Grand-Slam Abu Dhabi 2017. As every year, the United Arab Emirates banned Israeli athletes from wearing their country's symbols on uniforms, and singled Israel out with a ban on displaying its flag or playing its anthem during the tournament.

At the award ceremony, he could be seen on the podium apparently mouthing the words to the "Hatikvah," the Israeli national anthem. The Judo federation flag flew above him.


Motherfuckers - NO sporting event should be held in countries that wont honor ALL the countries competing. Good for him singing Hatikvah after winning the Gold.

[malaise]

1. Countries that practice apartheid

shouldn't be allowed to participate.

[leftynyc]

2. Does that include

countries that wont let you practice any other religion than Islam or you get arrested? Or just for the Jewish nation where everyone is safe to practice whatever they want? And since they WERE allowed to participate, the UAE should be fined into last century for this disgusting display and forbidden from ever hosting an INTERNATIONAL event ever again. If ANY country had done this to a Muslim country, the outcry here would be deafening and nobody would be talking about the repulsive human rights records of any of those countries. The hypocrisy on DU on full display once again.

[Xolodno]

9. Quit playing the "victim"...

Yes, Israel is an apartheid state, get over it. Is Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc. a bastion of human rights, hell no. None of those countries should be hosting jack shit if they won't respect/recognize another nation.

Nor have I seen this mass hypocrisy on DU as you imply. Israel paints itself as a bastion of democracy and decency in the Mid-East...when everyone knows its bullshit. Even South Africa has gone on record as stating Israel is an Apartheid state...and I think they would know something about that.

Nor has anyone stated PA and Hamas are just innocent angels, both are corrupt as hell and I've seen plenty of criticism of them. Plus Egypt has been on the shit list here for awhile.

You want the criticism to stop? All Israel has to do is stop the settlements, land grab, etc. pull back to the internationally recognized borders or negotiate a lease for some with the PA and tell the Palestinian people, "you own this now"...and walk away. If they did this, many of the ME countries have gone on record they will recognize Israel.

But instead, you have way too many....and this also fueled by right wing evangelist Christians (basically, useful idiots) who believe Israel's borders should be that of the time of King David and ignore that the Palestinian people exist and are genetically related to the Jewish People. Or as Ben Gurion called the Palestinians, "they are probably more Jewish than us".

[leftynyc]

10. Spare me

the drama queen BS. And no, only Tutu said that, not the South African government. It's NOT an apartheid state - ALL Israeli citizens have the vote and there is Arab representation in the government - NEITHER OF THOSE THINGS WERE TRUE IN APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA so you can stop trying to change the definition for your own purposes.

Israel tried to give up the land - GAZA - and look what happened, they just found it easier to shoot rockets into southern Israel - so of course, they should put their necks in a noose and just hope and believe it wont happen again. This is incredible BULLSHIT coming from the UAE - if they can't respect ALL the athletes that complete, they shouldn't be able to hold these competitions PERIOD.

And if want to take Ben Gurion out of context, you're only fooling those ignorant of history.

[Xolodno]

11. Well, you can lead a horse to water...

No I did not take Ben Gurion out of context...particularly since I used it EXACTLY as other Jewish Historians used it. Its even DOCUMENTED under the Ottoman Empire, entire Jewish villages in Palestine were converted to Islam. So please, SPARE ME!

And Gaza was blockaded when Hamas took over...a blockade is an act of war. Hence why Kennedy called his blockade of Cuba a "quarantine". So guess what, the world looks away because its one act of war vs. another. Get over it. But I did note, you sure shy'd away from Gaza when the PA had control of it...so how was Gaza when they were running things? Yeah, thought so.

If Israel pulled back, recognized the the 1967 borders...which is fucking generous when compared to 1948...Any rocket or spit wad fired from Palestine would be an act of war from one nation to the other. And Palestine would be in the cross hairs of world opinion. But please, its not about that, its about a land grab and booting your own cousins who happen to be in a religion that Israeli's consider unacceptable. Its not their fault the Romans only removed one third of the Jewish population at the time.

And yes its Apartheid, period. Israel ultimately calls the shots on what the PA can and can't do, with hold its tax funds, etc. And the PA has no vote in the Parliament. Furthermore, its current right wing government HAS been seeking to limit

"Arab representation". Its one of the reasons why the PA won't recognize Israel as a Jewish Nation, because it screws over non-Jewish-Religion citizens.

And yes, what the UAE did was Bullshit. And none of those countries should host squat if they pull off that kind of nonsense. But Israel sure isn't doing itself any favors. Continued narrow mindedness as you are exhibiting is just going to keep the conflict going. Or as another Jewish person so eloquently put it; "....doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

[stevenleser]

14. You are not leading anyone anywhere. Your singling out of one country for ethnocentrism and bias

when the whole world has issues with that is not fooling anyone.

[Xolodno]

16. I didn't single out one nation...

I called bullshit on UAE and bullshit on the "Israel hasn't hurt a fly" card.

And yes, the whole world has issues....so we don't talk about them?

[grossproffit]

12. Brava!

[stevenleser]

13. No, You stop ignoring that under your rules no sporting event would be held anywhere

China? Nope, you can't be Falun Gong without being oppressed. There is next to zero political freedom. Among other issues
Russia? Nope, if you are LGBT you are discriminated against. Rampant misogyny, and antisemitism among other issues
US? We have our issues with African Americans, Latinos, Asians, misogyny etc.
Most of Africa - Issues with LGBT, lack of political freedom, horrific misogyny and widespread rape
Eastern Europe - rampant antisemitism among other issues
Western Europe - Discrimination against Roma, Muslims, etc. Some parts have virulent antisemitism

Actually pretty much the entire world has an issue with misogyny.

So, AGAIN, why are you signaling out one country for issues of discrimination? What is it about THAT country that you think it is OK to do that?

[Xolodno]

15. I pretty well qualified my statement...

...that if they aren't willing to respect and recognize another nation, they shouldn't be hosting an international event.

[Mosby]

17. you have no idea what you are talking about

The security and administrative arrangements in the west bank are spelled out in the Oslo accords, which were agreed upon by the Israelis and Palestinians. Since it's disputed land, there is no rational for calling the occupation apartheid, it's nothing more that a smear.

In Israel proper all citizens have the same rights, in the west bank and Gaza the people are ruled by unelected dictators.

There is no internationally recognized borders, only the green line which will change if the Palestinians ever decide to negotiate. (per UNSCR 242)

[grossproffit]

3. Then no Islamic countries should be allowed to participate.

[leftynyc]

4. Agree - Look at what "moderate" Egypt

is up to:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/10/18/egypts-latest-crackdown-gays-creates-fear-lgbt-community/772889001/

CAIRO — Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are living in fear in Egypt after a spike of arrests aimed at repressing LGBT people.

In the latest of a series of moves to harass gay people, armed officers swept into a popular cafe in downtown Cairo last week and detained at least a dozen gay men at a nearby police station.

The raid came as an Egyptian lawmaker introduced a bill this month to lengthen prison sentences for gay people from a maximum of three years to 25 years, alleging that there has been a recent increase in lesbian relationships.

[Not Ruth]

5. He should take a knee when they play the UAE anthem

[leftynyc]

6. I think he behaved with more class

and dignity than the UAE deserved. That doesn't surprise me at all. This whole thing pisses me off to no end. To allow athletes to compete and then disrespect them this way should immediately halt ALL international competitions there and should disallow any to be scheduled there in the future. And very few people here give a shit - for the most hypocritical reasons.

[grossproffit]

7. If this had been any other race or creed being targeted, this forum would be on FIRE.

Our party has a HUGE problem with antisemitism and it started way before Trump.

[leftynyc]

8. The far left AND

the far right are exactly the same on this issue. That's something they should think about. And you're absolutely right - if such disrespect was shown to ANY Muslim country with their disgusting human rights records, this place would be going crazy. That's one of the reasons I posted, to show the stunning hypocrisy.

[grossproffit]

18. UAE apologizes to Israel for judo handshake snub

The entire Israeli team was required to compete without any Israeli identifying symbols, and had been told before the tournament that there would be no acknowledgement of their home country — a discriminatory policy imposed solely on the Israeli competitors.

The United Arab Emirates’ top judo official apologized to his Israeli counterpart Saturday after a tournament in Abu Dhabi saw Israeli athletes repeatedly snubbed by their hosts because of their nationality.

Mohammad Bin Thaloub Al-Darei, president of the UAE’s Judo Federation, and Aref Al-Awani, another senior Emirates sports official, apologized to Israeli Judo Association head Moshe Ponte over the fact that an athlete from the UAE refused to shake hands with an Israeli judoka after a match during the several-day tournament, according to a statement from the International Judo Federation.

Darei and Awani “apologized because of the UAE athletes not shaking hands with the Israel athletes and also congratulated the Israel team for their success here,” IJF president Marius Vizer said. He called the move a “gesture of courage.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/uae-apologizes-to-israel-for-judo-handshake-snub/

[leftynyc]

19. Any country that indicates

that the policy will be that Israel is the ONLY country (or any other country that's been singled out for political reasons) that can have no identifiable symbols and can't have THEIR flag and THEIR anthem played during medal ceremonies should be forbidden from holding the competition. PERIOD.

[grossproffit]

20. Absolutely. They're "apology" is bullshit.

[leftynyc]

21. Agree