Monday, November 1, 2010
[The following, by Ben Cohen, is crossposted from Z Word.]
This story is at least a week old, but it doesn't seem to have had much of an airing, so here goes. At this month's World Masters Weightlifting Championship in Poland, an Israeli competitor, Sergio Britva, took first place. Britva lifted an astonishing 300kg of weight, beating the second-placed competitor, the Iranian Hossein Khodadadi, by 4 kilos.
The two athletes mounted the podium to receive their medals, together with the third-placed competitor from Germany. Britva and the German shook hands. But when Britva offered his to Khodadadi, the Iranian refused it.
That unsporting gesture didn't prevent Khodadadi from being rebuked by the Iranian authorities for standing alongside an Israeli. According to Radio Zamaneh, "the Head of Iran's National Athletic Organization had earlier written a letter to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, to receive instructions on how to handle situations where Iranian athletes have to confront Israeli athletes." You don't need a wild imagination to figure out what those would have been.
And so to the video embedded above. At 1′30″, you can see Britva mount the podium draped in an Israeli flag. He shakes hands with the German to his left. He turns to his right, but the Iranian declines. That doesn't seem to bother Britva, who is deservedly delighted with his victory. Then, at 2′21″, with Khodadadi and Britva still together on the podium, a stirring rendition of Israel's national anthem, Hatikvah, strikes up. Britva stands erect and solemn, choking back tears of pride and joy. His image then dissolves into another of the Israeli flag atop the Iranian and the German.
I don't know whether the Polish producers of the broadcast understood the enormous historical resonance here, but it really has to be seen.
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: The Israeli and Iranian Weightlifters.
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Via Mick, apparently the refusal of an Iranian weightlifter to shake the hand of his Israeli competitor wasn't enough. He has been banned for life for the risk of air-bound Jew-cooties: Lifetime depravation for an athlete and the head of... Read More
Wow, dude, you are obsessed with Israel.
I last stopped by a few years ago, when most of your posts were about Israel and global antisemitism---and they still are!
It's both fascinating, and actually a little disturbing, to see a person so fixated for so long on one singular issue, especially an issue that is famous for carrying so much psychological baggage.
Ideology is a strange and perplexing thing. Human minds are born free, and yet everywhere they're in chains, often taken on willingly. At least physical slaves know that they're slaves and desire their freedom; people obsessed with a particular ideology---left-wing or right-wing or in any direction---don't even realize that they live inside self-made intellectual prisons, and often believe that those prisons are actually a form of liberation.
Havel really was on the right track when he famously wrote that "Ideology is a specious way of relating to the world. It offers human beings the illusion of an identity, of dignity, and of morality while making it easier for them to part with them."
Ever considering lightening up a little?
"Yigdal", you must be one of those DUMB socialists I read about.
>Human minds are born free, and yet everywhere >they're in chains, often taken on willingly.
And we've got Rousseau to thank for much of this.
#1
"You shouldn't say that, Dude!"
Rigid ideology robs people of their marvelous free will, making them depressingly predictable.
I put in that quotation by Rousseau, made famous by socialists, intentionally, because I knew it would provoke a certain reaction on a blog like this. And I was not disappointed. It was a deliberate, admittedly ironic, little experiment.
Ideology also gives people a feeling of strength, as well. It makes people feel mighty, and tough. But it's all just a comforting illusion: Attachment to ideology really makes people terrified that they'll see or hear something that will shake their faith; embedded, deep down, is fear that the ideology that brings so much comfort might be lost.
So yet one more predictable consequence is that people with strong ideologies have a tendency to lash out quickly and intensely at any perceived challenges to their faith, rather than hearing them out and taking them to heart.
Thus, reading "DUMB socialist" from a commenter here is hardly surprising; for the record, I'm not even remotely interested in the failed historical experiment that is socialism, but it's telling that someone here felt the need to box me away. It's also somewhat telling that individuals who subscribe to rigid ideological frameworks simply assume that everyone else does, too; it's a form of projection.
Open-mindedness is hard, and a little scary, but that's what really toughens the spirit. Letting go can seem terrifying. It's so much easier to latch on to comforting doctrines that give us a sense of identity and strength and courage. But the right thing is usually the hardest thing, isn't it?
Mr. Solomon, you can go on like this for the rest of your life if you wish. I'm just sharing a little world-weary advice, and some concern; feel free to take it or leave it.
"Yigdal", continue to wear yourself pushing "open-mindedness", alternate realities.
You must love the flat earth, fake moon landing, Elvis is alive, 9/11 "troofer" independent thought meme. You are so brave and deluded.
After standing during the Hatikva, the Israeli national anthem, the weightlifter from the islamofascist regime of iran can't go home.
He shamed the regime, the ayatollah, and mahmoud adm-mad-bout-jihad.
Will he be stoned to death, have his nose cut off?
"Yigdal", will you provide the iranian weightlifter sanctuary?
the flags: what an indelible image.
Yigdal,
You have absolutely no clue. Your high-brow, lofty pronunciations about obsession and ideology miss entirely that Solomon's (as well as my) intense, ongoing concern about Israel reflects a determination that Israel must survive and prevail in the face of ongoing attempts to destroy her.
Yigdal??? Is that really your name? Talk about inappropriate. Am Israel Chai! 6 million times over. Am Israel Chai!
Yigdal,
Did you see how the Iranian DID NOT SHAKE HANDS? Not only is it unsportsman-like but a slap in the face to every competitive sport. It is hard to forget a constant reminder of being hated. Go Israel!!! Great JOB. Mazel Tov
At least Britva didn't win against an Iraqi when Saddam Hussein was ruling. Ooday and Koosay tortured their soccer players when they came in second to some team in Eastern Europe--if they had lost to Israel...I don't want to think about it. The Iranians seem almost civilized compared to that.
Fact - Like it or not
FACTS: ...Israel was determined to be an independent state in 1948. Israel WON her freedom through PEACEFUL means.
Fact: Israel was attacked by Arabs in 1948. Israel WON!
Fact: Israel was attacked by Arabs in 1967. Israel WON.
Fact. Along with WINNING the war of 1967, the spoils are included as in JERUSALEM, West Bank and Gaza. Don't like that fact - sour grapes!! Suggesting that shouldn't be? Take it up with every other country that has "acquired" land through war!!
Fact: Israel, after having her arm twisted - being promised peace - gave up the Gaza strip. So much for promises of peace!
Fact: Nazareth - till recently - was Christian. How is it it is now dominated by MOSLEMS???
Fact: Bethlehem - till recently - was Christian. How is it is now claimed by Moslems?
Fact: Israel is being usurped by Moslems today - where is the Christian outrage to their holy sites?
Fact: Both Judaism and Christianity predate Islam...Where are the historians - oh, they are the ones with their heads buried in the sand.
Fact: Israel, if she put down every gun today - Israel would be overrun and destroyed.
Fact: If the Arabs and Moslems put down their bombs and guns and stop the violence...there would be peace in the Middle East TODAY!!!
Mr. Yigdal
it seems you are as obsessed as the ones you criticize... can you please point to the differnces - if any? you go on and on and on with your fetish so it is quite unnerving to read how you oppose people on grounds of... some weird ideology... funny you.