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international olympic committee
Shot Putter Paralyzed by Israeli Sniper Is Palestine's Lone Paralympian
"I want to raise my country flag here in Paris and to show the people we are still here," said Fadi Deeb. "We're still alive—we have hopes, we have dreams, we have goals."
Aug 12, 2024
Following an Olympic Games that activists said was tainted by the participation Israeli athletes including a flag-bearer who signed bombs bound for Gaza, a shot putter who was disabled by an Israeli sniper and who lost at least 17 relatives to Israel's onslaught is set to be the sole Palestinian competitor at the upcoming Paralympics in Paris.
"I want to raise my country flag here in Paris and to show the people we are still here," 39-year-old Fadi Deeb said during a Monday interview with Democracy Now! ahead of the August 28 Paralympic Opening Ceremony. "We're still alive—we have hopes, we have dreams, we have goals."
"There is no safe place in Gaza... everyone is like a target for the killing machine."
Deeb, who is from Gaza City, was shot in the spine by an Israeli sniper in 2001 during the Second Intifada, or general Palestinian uprising.
"It's a very hard situation to... balance between my sport as an international player and one who is going to compete in the Paralympic Games, and... my family, all of my sisters, my brothers still in Gaza Strip," he explained.
"There is no safe place in Gaza... everyone is like a target for the killing machine," Deeb continued. "So, what is happening now... it's a genocide. It's not a war... I lost my brother on December 7, 2023 and two of my nephews... And for whole of my family members, I lost like more than, like, 17 persons. So, the situation is very hard."
The Palestinian death toll from Israel's 311-day bombardment, invasion, and siege of Gaza surged toward 40,000 on Monday, according to local and international officials, with at least an additional 103,000 people wounded or missing. Most of those killed have been women and children.
Almost all of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced, while Israel's total blockade of the coastal enclave has forced the starvation of at least hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Dozens of Gazans—almost all of them children—have died from malnutrition, dehydration, and lack of medical care.
Asked by Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman about the "amputation crisis" in Gaza—the charity Save the Children says an average of 10 children a day have lost one or more limbs during the war—Deeb said that it's "a very hard situation, because, as I told before, there's no difference... if you are children or women... everyone is a target."
According to the Palestine Olympic Committee and Palestine Football Association (PFA), at least 400 Palestinian athletes, including nearly 70 children, have been killed by Israeli forces since October as of July 26. Among the dead are Hany Al-Masry, a former player and general manager of the Palestinian Olympic soccer team.
Still, eight Palestinians managed to compete in the Paris Olympics, although they did not win any medals.
The International Olympic Committee has been accused of double standards for banning Russian athletes over their country's invasion of Ukraine but allowing Israeli athletes—including Israel Defense Forces veterans and an Olympic flag-bearer who recently signed bombs to be dropped on Gaza—to compete.
Last week, PFA president Jibril Rajub
called Israel's alleged deliberate targeting of Palestinian athletes a blatant violation of the Olympic Charter.
Despite all this, Deeb said he is hopeful.
"To be a player and to compete in this competition for the Paris 2024... gives me, like, too much responsibility to talk about my country, to show the people about Palestine," he said. "It's not just war. It's not just blood. There is life. There is hopes. There is goals. There is dreams."
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Journalist Who Lost Leg in Israeli Attack Carries Olympic Torch in Paris
Meanwhile, calls to ban Israel from the 2024 Games are growing following the World Court's ruling against illegal Israeli occupation and apartheid in Palestine.
Jul 22, 2024
Lebanese photojournalist Christina Assi, who lost a leg in an Israeli tank strike while working in southern Lebanon last year, carried the Olympic torch through Paris on Sunday amid renewed calls to ban Israel from the 2024 Games following a World Court ruling against the illegal occupation of Palestine and the ongoing obliteration of Gaza.
Assi, who works for Agence France-Presse (AFP), carried the Olympic flame through Parisian streets in a wheelchair pushed by Dylan Collins, an American deputy editor at Al Jazeera English who was also wounded in the October 13 attack.
"This is all for my best friend, Issam Abdallah, and all the other journalists who we have lost this year," Assi said, according toDemocracy Now! "This is all for them and to pay tribute and to honor them, to honor their memory. And I will keep Issam's memory alive in everything I do. It's all for him."
🏅JO-2024 : Christina Assi et Dylan Collins, journalistes de l'AFP blessés lors d'un reportage en octobre 2023 au Liban, ont porté la flamme olympique dimanche à Vincennes, en hommage "à tous les journalistes, à nos collègues et amis tués cette année" #AFPVertical ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/DvODwOUU6t
— Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) July 21, 2024
Abdallah, Assi, and Collins were part of an international group of journalists who were covering cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon on October 13 when they came under Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank fire. Abdallah, a 37-year-old Reuters videographer, was killed in the attack.
Noticing that Assi's leg was "blown off at the kneecap," Collins rushed to help his colleague and was wounded when a second Israeli shell exploded nearby, injuring him.
AFP, Al Jazeera, and Reuters all concluded that Israel deliberately targeted the journalists, who were clearly identifiable as members of the press. Groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also said the attack was "apparently deliberate" and demanded a war crimes investigation. Reporters Without Borders concluded that "it is unlikely that the journalists were mistaken for combatants."
"This is a chance to continue talking about justice, and the targeted attack on October 13 that needs to be investigated as a war crime," Collins toldThe Associated Press on Sunday.
At least 108 media professionals—nearly all of them Palestinian—have been killed in Gaza since October, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Israel's alleged deliberate targeting of journalists is part of the evidence presented in a South Africa-led genocide case against Israel being reviewed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
Since the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel, Israeli forces have killed or wounded more than 139,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 11,000 people who are missing and believed to be dead and buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of homes and other buildings. Around 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced, and Israel's siege has caused widespread—and sometimes deadly—starvation.
In the wake of Friday's ICJ ruling that Israel's 57-year occupation of Palestine is an illegal form of apartheid that must end, the Palestine Olympic Committee (POC) called for a last-minute International Olympic Committee (IOC) ban on Israeli participation in the 2024 Paris Games, which are set to start Friday.
"We have requested a ban of Israel at the Olympics because we believe that such ethics don't reflect the spirit of the Olympics."
"We have requested a ban of Israel at the Olympics because we believe that such ethics don't reflect the spirit of the Olympics," POC deputy secretary-general Nader Jayousi toldKyodo News, pointing to evidence including Israeli athletes visiting IDF troops and posting pictures of signed bombs.
Jayousi said it "should be the concern of the IOC" that Israelis who are "proud of slaughtering people"—a clear violation of the Olympic spirit—are set to compete in Paris.
Activists also renewed calls for an IOC ban on Israeli participation in Paris.
"With ICJ confirming Israel is committing the crime of apartheid in the [occupied Palestinian territories], the IOC and FIFA must immediately suspend Israel from international sport," Francis Awaritefe, an attorney and former member of the Australian men's national soccer team, said on social media, referring to soccer's world governing body.
"Apartheid is incompatible with the values of sport and membership of the international sports community," he added.
Sophia Brooks, a California-based activist focused on the intersection of Palestine and sports, on Monday cited "ample evidence" of why Israel should be banned from the games, including the destruction of sports facilities in Gaza and the killing of hundreds of Palestinian athletes.
According to Jayousi, around 400 Palestinian athletes and coaches have been killed since October 7. Israeli forces have also used facilities including Yarmouk Stadium for the detention of Palestinian men, women, and children—many of whom have reported torture and other abuse at the hands of their captors.
Numerous social media accounts posted video footage of French police telling attendees at Sunday's Olympic flame procession that they cannot display Palestinian flags during the event, despite the participation of Palestinian athletes in the Paris Games.
“You cannot display that flag”
Macron's police were ordered to take down only Palestinian flags, while flags from other countries were allowed to be displayed freely during the Olympic flame procession in Vitry-sur-Seine, Paris. pic.twitter.com/fB2kEIWwg2
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) July 22, 2024
The Palestine Chroniclereported Monday that a record eight Palestinian athletes are set to compete in six different Olympic sports.
"I'm very proud and happy to say to have made it this far," said Omar Yaser Ismail, an 18-year-old taekwondo athlete set to compete in Paris. "I've been dreaming of this moment since I was a little boy."
"I was very happy to imagine myself in Paris with the best athletes in the world," he said, adding that he would be "very happy to show my flag on the podium."
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Why Israel Should Be Banned From the Paris Olympics
If the IOC has excluded Russia from the games for actions contrary to the Olympic ethos of peace, then consistency demands scrutiny of all participants.
Apr 09, 2024
An ancient adage states, "To kill is to invite punishment, except when done en masse." Despite the passage of over half a century since the United Nations Charter's inception and the centennial of the National Olympic Committee's founding in 1894 in Paris, the assertion that sports remain apolitical continues to present challenges.
In a notable September 2023 action, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) initiated legal proceedings against Russia, citing a violation of international peace, and subsequently barred its participation in the Olympic Games. This move echoed a prior decision that also excluded Russia's football team from the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
Eligibility for Olympic participation hinges on the IOC's endorsement, which can be revoked at any discretion, often without justification. This authority was notably exercised during the war in Ukraine, where the eastern regions' occupation led to the seizure of Ukraine's National Olympic Committee offices. Concurrently, concerns arose over the politicization of the Olympics by nations like Russia, where athletic triumphs have been appropriated to fuel expansionist agendas and bolster nationalistic fervor. The athletes' intent notwithstanding, their achievements may inadvertently endorse these ideologies. This was exemplified when Russia, following its annexation of Crimea, invested an unprecedented $51 billion in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics—equivalent to the cumulative cost of all prior Winter Games—while the IOC maintained a conspicuous silence on both the annexation and calls for an Olympic boycott.
Given the IOC's stance that violators of international peace should not partake in global events like the Olympics, it begs the question: Why is Israel not subject to similar prohibitions? Historically, even in the absence of IOC intervention, host nations have exercised their right to impose sanctions on countries compromising global peace, often supported by international allies and civil society movements. The expectation for the IOC, and other nations, to prevent Israeli participation is rooted in historical actions.
Questions are being raised about the IOC's consistency in upholding its standards.
For example, Belgium, hosting the 1920 Olympics, excluded its geopolitical adversaries, including Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Turkey, with Germany’s exclusion extending until 1928. Similarly, the 1928 London Olympics did not extend invitations to Japan and Germany. These decisions were autonomously made by the host countries. However, the IOC itself has taken decisive action, such as barring South Africa from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and maintaining this exclusion through the 1968 Mexico City games until the apartheid regime's end in 1992. The IOC invoked a comparable rationale to exclude Afghan athletes during Taliban rule in 2000.
Recent reports suggest that Israel intends to send a substantial delegation to the upcoming Olympic Games. Amid this, there is a growing discourse on the IOC's impartiality and the potential for international advocacy to influence its policies. Questions are being raised about the IOC's consistency in upholding its standards, particularly in light of allegations regarding the repurposing of Gaza's Elimuk Stadium. Reports of the stadium's conversion into a detention and interrogation center have sparked calls for accountability and action. Furthermore, the reported destruction of the Gaza Olympic Committee's office and the killing of Palestinian athletes have intensified debates over Israel's participation in the Paris Olympics. In light of these events, organizations like Amnesty International have highlighted the urgency of investigating alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
The crux of the debate lies in the absence of steadfast principles for upholding peace and countering aggression and occupation. The notion that nations breaching the sovereignty of others should be excluded from the Olympics and global sporting events, as a reflection of the "community of nations," remains contentious. While some argue that, based on this principle, the United States might have faced Olympic bans for its involvement in the Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars, the reality is that the idea of "sports transcending politics" and the exclusion of "the wrong country" from the Olympics is more aspirational than actualized. Moreover, it's noteworthy that the IOC has even penalized athletes for expressing moral and humanitarian support for Palestinians, indicating a complex interplay between sports, politics, and ethics.
If the IOC has excluded Russia from the games for actions contrary to the Olympic ethos of peace, then consistency demands scrutiny of all participants. It raises the question of whether it is appropriate for any nation, if condemned by the International Court of Justice for grave violations, to compete without addressing its international obligations
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