Palestinian Olympic Chief says No Hand shake with Israelis until they Recognize Palestine as an Independent State.
The head of the PA’s National Olympic Committee, Jibril Rajoub, says they will not to greet the Israelis or take the Olympic flag with them in Paris 2024 unless Israelis acknowledge the PA’s right to statehood. The Palestinian sports chief Rajoub, who has previously requested that the Israeli athletes be barred from any global meets in view of the situation in Gaza, clearly stood in an interview with the Guardian.
It is to be noted that Rajoub continues to stress that he does not meet with Yael Arad, the head of the Israeli Olympic Committee, and her associates due to principle. “Before you ask me, ask them: do they even admit to the presence of the Palestinian people and their right to an independent state alongside Israel by UN resolutions? Rajoub asked. He further said that he has no problem extending his hand to anyone prepared to accept Palestine’s right to self-determination, but only if that is more than what he says to lubricate the palms.
As far as the Olympiad event is concerned, Palestinian athletes have yet to receive any instructions not to greet Russian or Belorussian counterparts, while recently, Ukrainian athletes have been ordered not to have a handshake with Russian or Belorussian athletes. To this issue, he stated that Palestinian athletes will respect the principles of the International Olympic Committee and ensure that they do not violate the Olympic Charter. “The ball is in the other side’s court,” Rajoub said while questioning the president of the Israeli National Olympic committee on how they can encourage their soldiers, how their judo champion Peter Paltchik, among other things, can do this and not ask the victim, but the criminal, instead.
Guardian has left a comment for Team Israel, but the team has not given any response to it in response to this piece. French President Emmanuel Macron recently received Rajoub, also president of the Palestinian Football Association, at the Élysée Palace.
The Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee said that, to this date, approximately 400 Palestinian athletes had been killed since October 7, with a devastating loss in sporting facilities’ infrastructure. That devastation forms the basis of Palestine’s campaign to get Israel expelled from the Olympics and the assertion that ongoing bombings in Gaza are a violation of the Olympic truce philosophy. Even having faced these problems, Rajoub stated that the presence of the Palestinian team in Paris must be a driving force. “We failed to take any athlete from Gaza,” he said, adding that most team members are trained in different countries. “It was good to be at the Olympics. Any hindrance does not mean we are absent. It is good to show the world we exist. We shall not frustrate or surrender.”
Rajoub pointed at the welcome the Palestinian team received at the Charles de Gaulle Airport and dubbed it a message of hope. “I walk and move everywhere, and I feel secure,” Pfeiffer, the wheelchair user, said. Everyone amiably welcomed the logo of my country, W.ell. The reception was a morale boost to the people and a red card to the other parties.
However, it is important to remember that the present position doesn’t necessarily erase the sin of the past; the following are the instances linked with Rajoub and his radical past. Last year, they sent him to a one-year break from football after he incited the fans to burn the photos of Lionel Messi before a match between the national teams of Israel and Argentina. He also scuppers a campaign for a minute’s silence during the London 2012 Olympics in honor of the 11 Israeli athletes who were taken hostage by the Black September group in 1972 and later killed.
He said that Israel is now exposing its delegation at the Paris Olympics, which comprises 88 athletes, to constant threats and attacks, and the sportsmen and sportswomen are under 24-hour protection. To be precise, Israeli swimmers Andrea Murez and Peter Paltchik were rowing a boat with the Icelandic team on the river Seine during the opening ceremony. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who met with Macron, noted the French leader for hosting the Olympics and combating antisemitism.
Herzog also focused on the results of the torch and noted pride in the participation of Israel, urging to free the hostages – members of the Hamas movement.” It is with great honor that the state of Israel takes part in the Olympics and is allowed to hoist its flag as an important part of the global community,” Herzog noted on social networks. “From each leap and turn, from each kick and lift, from each strike and hiss, we are in solidarity with our sons and daughters, the front liners, with our brothers and sisters from the north and south who are homeless.”
