Redux: Israeli Team In Dubai, Name Not Called

The corrupt rulers of the UAE are seeking normalization with Israel. Corrupt Arab regimes seek normalization with the occupying Zionist entity due to American pressure and because it betters their image with Congress and thus greases the wells for those sought-after arms sales. Thus they recently welcomed a team of Israeli swimmers to compete at an international competition (all of whom are past IDF occupiers), if it’s any solace they did not receive visas until the final day.

Dubai initially rejected an Israeli tennis player from its tournament and Zionists went crazy. I am for the ban of Israeli athletes and all Israelis from international competition. A boycott of a nation must mean a boycott in toto. Some may say that athletes are innocent of the Israeli occupation. This is hard-pressed when it comes to Israel which has conscription service in the occupation and most, if not all, of Israeli athletes were happy to wear the uniform of the IDF and brutally occupy, oppress if not injure and kill innocent Palestinians. So, no, Israeli athletes are not innocent from their government’s military occupation considering the role as occupiers themselves and voters of the elected Israeli governments who continue their apartheid, occupation policies. But what if one is genuinely innocent, like, say, refusing to have served in the IDF? So what? Not every South African apartheid-era athlete was a supporter of the regime let alone a conscript (which did not exist in South Africa) and , yet, South African athletes were not exempt from boycott and divestment actions (see Sporting boycott of South Africa). Because in order for pressure to really bear on a nation there cannot be constant exemptions for this or that solely because it’s “just athletes” or “just artists”. If you keep on making exemptions you pressure is diluted and the nation’s brutal policies become that much more affordable by the state. If normalization is allowed, if Israeli athletes are allowed to compete in international forums, then Israel feels the pressure less. But if Israelis see the consequences in such stark illustrations then they may being to rethink their policies.

Apartheid-era athletes were not exempt and neither should be Israelis, and alone such an all-encompassing boycott will work:

But more than just the need for boycott cohesion, Israeli athletes deserve to be boycotted because Palestinians athletes are denied their rights:

Then there is Zakia Nassar. She’s a 21-year-old Palestinian from Bethlehem studying dentistry in Jenin, a city in the West Bank. She said it has been her dream since she was 10 to swim in the Olympics but there is no pool available for training in Jenin. There is an Olympic-sized, 50-meter pool in nearby Nazareth, but the Israeli government did not give her permission to use it.

“Without permission, there is no way to go there,” Nassar said. “Many journalists did their best. They talked, they wrote, they talked, they wrote. Our Olympic committee, our swim federation, they said, ‘This is sport; let her train.’ And they said no. I said, ‘I am just going to swim.’ And they said no. They didn’t say anything. They just ignored me.”

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SWIMMING STRETCHES: Palestinian swimmers, Abdul Rahman, left, and Shahdi el-Masry, performed warm-up stretches before training at the Nama’a Sports Club in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip. Mr. el-Masry’s leg was amputated after an Israeli jeep ran over it when he was 2 years old. The handicapped swimmers hope to travel to Germany in May to qualify for the 2012 Paralympics. Gaza has few adequate training facilities for professional athletes, many of whom have great difficulty leaving the blockaded territory to compete internationally. (Warrick Page/Getty Images)

The head of European soccer’s governing body told a senior Palestinian Authority official that Israel is in danger of eviction from UEFA if its government does not change its policies limiting the freedom of movement for Palestinian athletes, according to reports in Palestinian and Arab media outlets.

Israel and Zionists shout unfairness and feign indignation when their athletes are denied the ability to compete in some international competitions, but see nothing wrong and do not raise a word when Palestinians are denied even the right to train, let alone compete, by Israel, no less!

Go keep the swimmers and tennis players of Zion away from any normalization!

Redux: This was some consolation:

The Israeli swim team found itself snubbed on Tuesday during the opening ceremony of the FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in Dubai. As the competition organizers announced each participating nation while the teams marched into the arena, they failed to call the Jewish state by its name, curtly dubbing it 'ISR.

Awww.... Not! The Israeli press wants you to feel sorry for these occupiers who served in the brutal Israel occupation army and injured, if not killed, Palestinian civilians and children. They don't deserve to even have their shadows there!