As British Jews celebrate the medals coming in for both Team GB and Jewish athletes from around the world at the Tokyo Olympics, one cannot help but feel for the particular challenges faced by the Israeli team.
While Avishag Semberg thrilled her nation by taking Taekwondo bronze at the weekend, her compatriot, judo competitor Tohar Butbul, has been struggling to find someone who will even compete against him.
Two judokas: one Algerian and one from Sudan, both of whom were due to face the Israeli, pulled out of their contests, in what could be seen as a strange conspiracy to ensure Israel wins more Olympic medals.
However, the sad truth is that pathological hatred of Israel remains rife in many parts of the Middle East and North Africa.
Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine took the decision to withdraw after he was drawn to fight Butbul if he won his first-round bout. His decision has not gone down well at home with the Algerian Judo Association who were clearly not enamoured of the decision to fund an athlete who refuses to compete.
Indeed, Nourine has form – he also pulled out of the 2019 World Championships for the same reason. Gratifyingly, the International Judo Federation subsequently announced that both Nourine and his coach have now been suspended pending an investigation.
The story didn’t stop there, however. Mohamed Abdalrasool, a Sudanese judo player, who benefited from Nourine’s withdrawal, also withdrew from the competition before his bout with Butbul, citing a shoulder injury which was apparently sustained even though the athlete had not competed.
Sudan has diplomatic relations with Israel so this is not comparable to the 2019 World Championships when, in an even greater scandal, Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei was ordered to intentionally lose the semi-final of the Judo World Championship to avoid a potential bout against Israel's Sagi Muki in the final. Muki went on to win gold.
The opening of the games was also overshadowed by the dismissal of Kentaro Kobayashi, the director of the opening ceremony. This was after footage came to light of him making a joke about the Holocaust.
While I think it is important for people to be given a chance to show contrition for historic remarks such as this, the Government of Japan and the Tokyo organising committee displayed a no-tolerance policy which was an important example to set.
The Japanese Embassy in London wrote to us at the Board of Deputies to apologise for any upset and I have replied to the Japanese Ambassador to thank his Government on behalf of the UK Jewish community and wish them every success with these Games.
This behaviour is particularly stark in the context of the Munich Olympic Massacre which, nearly 50 years after the event, was finally commemorated with a minute’s silence Friday’s opening ceremony. This was an important moment, which has been long campaigned for by Israel and the Jewish diaspora community since the day in 1972 when Black September terrorists took 11 Israeli athletes hostage and later murdered them.
There is a happy postscript to the judo story of two years ago. Saeid Mollaei, the Iranian judoka who was ordered to throw his World Championship semi-final final, later defected from Iran and now competes for Mongolia. He is reportedly good friends with Sagi Muki, the Israeli he never got to fight. Here is proof that the Olympic ideal can still prevail.
David Mendoza-Wolfson is Vice President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and chairs its International Division
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