Iran demands exclusion of Israel from Paris Olympics
With Israel’s actions in Gaza attracting disapproval from all over the world, the participation of the Israeli team at the 2024 Paris Olympics was also condemned by Iran on July 23rd, reports AFP.
The Israeli delegation which landed in France on July 22nd, four days before the official opening ceremony, was tightly guarded in the French capital as international outrage grows over the significant civilian loss of life as a result of Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
Iran’s foreign ministry posted on X that the “receptions and protection of the apartheid terrorist Zionist regime’s delegation” gave “legitimacy to the child killers”.
The Iranian government has called on the organisers of the Olympics to ban Israel, adding that “they do not deserve to be present at the Paris Olympics because of the war against the innocent people of Gaza”.
Attached to the post made by the Iranian government showed the Olympic rings, inside of which displayed pictures of injured Palestinian children above the hashtag “#BANISRAEL”.
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The Gaza war, which commenced on October 7th following an attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas, resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mainly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.
The latest death toll of Israel’s retaliatory offensive stands at 39,090, of which over 15,000 are said to be children, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran severed all diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel and, to this day, does not recognise Israel as a state. Iran has also prohibited all contact between Iranian and Israeli athletes.
The strict adherence to the measure was demonstrated when Iranian authorities imposed a lifetime ban on weightlifter Mostafa Rajaei for shaking hands with an Israeli competitor at an event in Poland in late August, reported state media.
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Iran has previously asked for Israel’s exclusion from the sporting world, as seen in February when Iran’s football federations asked FIFA to suspend its Israeli counterpart over the war in Gaza.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, explicitly told athletes in 2021 that they were “not to shake hands with a representative of the (Israeli) criminal regime to obtain a medal.”
AFP
Sabrine El NAHR also contributed to this article
