For over nine months since the mass killings in Gaza by the Israeli regime began, no group in the besieged strip has been spared from attacks. This includes Palestinian athletes, with over 300 of them having been killed. Mohammed Barakat, nicknamed "the Lion," a famous Palestinian footballer, is one example of the crimes committed against Palestinian athletes in Gaza. His death dates back to March 11, 2024, when Israeli warplanes launched their heaviest attacks on the city of Khan Yunis.
Just moments before the widespread bombing of Khan Yunis, Barakat shared a short video on social media, where the sounds of continuous explosions could be heard. In the video, he shared his final message with the world, especially his fans. He said, "Perhaps these are my last words. At this moment, I am going through difficult conditions. However, I know that in the kingdom of God, nothing happens outside His will. I leave you all in God's care. Forgive me." A few hours after the video was posted, news of Barakat's martyrdom, along with several of his family members, was reported in the media, adding him to the list of athletes who became the victims of the Israeli violence.
Mustafa Siam, the media official of the Palestinian Federation of Sports, discusses the actions of the Israeli regime against the sports community and infrastructure in Gaza as the following:
The latest martyr from the Palestinian sports community in Gaza is Shadi Abu al-Araj, the goalkeeper of the Khan Yunis Youth Club. Israel directly targets the Palestinian sports community through assassination, arresting athletes, and restricting their activities. The destruction of Gaza's sports infrastructure is another of Israel's actions. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, 90% of the sports infrastructure in the southern provinces of Gaza has been destroyed.
The extent of these crimes is so vast that one of the Palestinian sports institutions stated:
Stars are flying to the sky one after another. The Palestinian sports community continues to witness the repeated farewells to its children. This is the result of decades of oppression and occupation. So far, no segment of the Palestinian people—including athletes—has been spared from the oppression, injustice, murder, and killings by the aggressors.
Does the so-called civilized world have no intention of punishing Israel, even in sports?
The widespread killing of Palestinian athletes in the Gaza Strip over the past nine months has prompted civil organizations related to sports to officially request that international sports bodies, such as FIFA, impose sanctions on Israel. Meanwhile, social media users sarcastically criticized the “civilized world,” asking:
Why do no international sports bodies take steps to hold Israel accountable? Why are none of the Israeli athletes, teams, or clubs punished for the crimes Tel Aviv commits against Palestinian athletes? This is while these same international sports bodies have banned Russia from participating in international competitions, including the Paris Olympics, due to the war in Ukraine.
Thus, it seems that contrary to their claims of being apolitical, international sports bodies not only fail to avoid political issues but also use sports as a political tool to serve the interests of the Israeli regime.
“War criminals have no place in the 2024 Paris Olympics”
The demand to ban the Israeli regime from the Olympic Games in France, set to begin in late July this year, has become a widespread public call due to Israel's crimes against Palestinian athletes. In this context, the Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon campaign, established in 2002 and including several Lebanese human rights activists, issued a statement emphasizing the necessity of preventing the Israeli regime from participating in the Paris Summer Olympics. The statement declared: “War criminals have no place in the Olympics. We must use all available capacities in political, economic, artistic, cultural, academic, and sports fields to further isolate the Israeli regime for its genocide against the people of Gaza.”
The statement continued: “After extensive efforts to ban Israel from participating in the Paris Olympics, we were told that they do not intend to mix politics with sports. Our response is: Was banning Russia and Belarus from participating in international competitions, including the Paris Olympics, not mixing politics with sports?”
Double standards in favor of Gazans’ butchers
A key issue in the public demand to exclude Israeli athletes from the Olympics is that this call has even surfaced within France itself. French protesters have gathered in front of the Olympic headquarters in Paris, chanting slogans to prevent Israel from participating in the Games. Olivia Zemor, head of the European Activists for Palestine association and one of the protest organizers, said: “It is shameful that Paris will host Israelis for this sporting event while Palestinians are being genocidally victimized daily by the occupying forces. We are witnessing the double standards of international sports officials whose policies seem to honor those committing genocide against the innocent people of Gaza.”
The problem of "double standards" in various fields, including sports, has often been addressed by the Leader of Islamic Revolution:
Today, the colonialist, exploitative Arrogant Powers stand behind almost all international centers … They say that sports isn’t political, but when they need to politicize sports, they do it in the worst possible way. They come up with an excuse to ban a country from participating in all international sporting events. [When someone asks,] “Why?” [The answer is,] “Because you are engaging in a war somewhere.” But these same people turn a blind eye to the … children who have been martyred in Gaza. Sports shouldn’t be mixed with politics here [in Israel’s assault on Gaza], but there [in another place] it is clearly politicized, and they see no problem with it! They exclude one country from world championships on the pretext of war, while they completely ignore another country and another government even though it is engaged in war, war crimes, and genocide. They don’t ban that country from entering international arenas.
The leniency toward the Israeli regime by international sports officials, who claim to avoid political interference in sports, stands in contrast to the fact that the International Olympic Committee banned South Africa from the Olympics from 1964 to 1988 due to its apartheid regime. Now, despite the ongoing genocide by the Israeli regime in Gaza, which surpasses the apartheid threat, many questions are being raised about the apparent bias of international decision-makers and influencers toward the Zionists, even in sports.
The West's efforts to whitewash a peace-despising regional actor
As public calls to exclude the Israeli regime from the Paris Olympics grow louder, French President Emmanuel Macron has been trying to distort the situation and present Israel as a pro-peace nation. In response to these demands, he said, “Israel did not start the war. Israel itself is a victim! Israeli athletes carry the flag of peace and should compete with other athletes during the Olympic Games.” These statements come even as many in France view Israel as a nation hostile to peace and guilty of committing genocide against Palestinians. With nearly 150,000 people martyred or injured in Gaza over the past nine months, including many women and children, it is not difficult for global opinion to see the clear distinction between “peace-loving” and “peace-despising” when it comes to the Israeli regime. As a result, there is widespread belief that every available means — including the Olympics — should be used to pressure those responsible to stop what is described as an unprecedented genocide against Palestinians.
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