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Thursday, January 15, 2004

Never put it past some Arabs to find new ways of being petty and hateful. The Jordanian Fencing Federation was going to disallow the Israeli team from competing in the World Championship - an absolutely outrageous move in the world of sport. I find it hard even to imagine a particular sporting body deciding on their own to exclude some athletes for political reasons. It goes against everything sport is supposed to be about. You would think the Jordanians would be ashamed of doing such a thing, rather than defeating the Israelis fairly on the field of play - but never underestimate an "honor/shame" culture for finding new ways of behaving shamefully.

Following intense pressure, the JFF has allowed the Israeli team to compete - of course, they had to climb the pole and hang their flag themselves, and due to security concerns, the team stays in Eilat and travels to Aqaba daily for the competetion - all this with a country that Israel is nominally at peace with.

Fencers will compete; hoist flag in Aqaba

...A jubilant Dr. Vladimir Shklar, head of the Israeli fencing delegation, told Jerusalem Post Thursday that "we're very excited to be here. After we got there and enrolled, we saw all the participating nations' flags flying outside the gymnasium, except Israel's. There was an empty pole instead."

When asked to fly the Israeli flag on the empty pole, the Jordanian organizers refused, telling Shklar and members of the Israeli team, "If you want to do it, do it yourself."

"The Jordanians asked us to take the feelings of the Jordanian people into account. We were told that we were allowed to participate, and that should be enough for us," Shklar said.

Adamant, Shklar turned to the Israeli Consulate in Jordan. He returned to the organizers with the claim that the Israeli athletes are competing under the blessings of King Abdullah, and that "the flag must go up."

"When I told them this, they had no choice," Shklar said. "However, they refused to do it themselves. They told us that if we really wanted to, we should put it up."

Before the eyes of hundreds of Arab spectators, Shklar and fencer Tomer Or climbed up the pole, and hoisted the Israeli flag alongside the flags of the other nations participating in the event.

"It was pretty scary, standing before all those armed Jordanian policemen," Shklar told the 'Post. "But we did it. Our flag is flying in Jordan, amidst all the Arab flags.

"I was extremely excited. It was worth making Aliya from Russia 13 years ago just to be a part of this moment. The competition is tomorrow, the very first time an Israeli fencer will stand up against an Arab Adversary."[...]

Go get 'em.

2 Comments

It's refreshing to read an account of a person who believes in freedom doing what he feels to be the "right thing" to do. As opposed to Pali suicide murders (who live and breathe oppression) killing other humans to make a "statement". The Arabs have the ability to protest to their heart's content in pluralistic societies such as the US, France, and Germany, and thus do so out of no fear of reprisal. This Israeli acted when he had a tangible belief that he would be harmed or killed (a very probable belief when amongst those folks). No act could be nobler than risking one's life to do what one feels is just. Thanks for the link.

Steve

Those fencers are having a great experience, whether they appreciate it now or not.

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