Palestinian Olympian wears shirt showing planes bombing children at opening ceremony
Shirt cleared with IOC despite political messages being banned from game events; meanwhile, Israeli athletes forbidden from wearing yellow ribbon for hostages
Palestinian boxer Waseem Abu Sal wore a shirt depicting children being bombed for the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics in a test for organizers who have strict rules on political statements.
Abu Sal was one of two flag-bearers for the Palestinian delegation during the rain-soaked river parade along the Seine on Friday.
His white shirt had embroidered images of warplanes dropping missiles over children playing sports.
“This shirt represents the current picture in Palestine,” Abu Sal told AFP on Saturday.
“The children who are martyred and die under the rubble, children whose parents are martyred and are left alone without food or water.”
The war in Gaza erupted when Hamas-led terrorists rampaged through southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza while committing brutal atrocities.
Bombs dropped over a sunny sky as a child plays football — the powerful reference on the shirt worn by Palestine’s flag-bearer Waseem Abu Sal at the Olympics Opening Ceremony ???????? pic.twitter.com/N5WnYQPp7l
— Leyla Hamed (@leylahamed) July 26, 2024
Israel then launched a military operation aiming to eliminate the terror group and free the captives. Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 327.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 39,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and gunmen. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle and some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.
Jibril Rajoub, president of the Palestine Olympic Committee, told AFP they had checked with the local organizing committee of the Paris Olympics to see if Abu Sal’s shirt contravened Olympic regulations.
“It’s a message of peace. It’s a message to attract attention,” he said. “This is anti-war, against killing. This abides with the Olympic Charter.”
“We presented it, they approved it,” he added.
The Paris organizing committee, the International Olympic Committee, and the Israeli Olympic Committee were contacted for comment by AFP.
The IOC bans political statements on the field of play during sports events and during the opening and closing ceremonies, but athletes are free to express themselves in press conferences and on social media.
While the IOC accepted the shirt, the Kan public broadcaster reported earlier this month that the committee denied a request by Israeli athletes to wear yellow ribbons advocating for the return of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Sanctions
The Palestine Olympic Committee wrote to the IOC last week asking for a ban on Israeli athletes at the July 26-August 11 Paris Olympics, which was rejected.
Rajoub said that IOC president Thomas Bach, who is German, had “good intentions” but he called on him to take action.
“It’s the time to take sanctions against those who are violating (the Olympic Charter),” Rajoub told AFP. “The double standard policies is not good for the message of sport, or those who have good intentions.
“Not to take sanctions against Israel is part of the legacy of Europe and their crimes,” he added, referring to the Holocaust during World War II.
He said he would not issue any instructions to the small eight-person Palestinian sports delegation in Paris in case any of them had to compete against an Israeli rival.
In the past, some Arab athletes have withdrawn rather than compete against Israelis.
“We want to expose the suffering of our people, their legal, legitimate ambitions, through the athletes, through the Games, according to the Olympic Charter,” Rajoub said.
Boxer Abu Sal, 20, received a wildcard for the Olympics boxing.
He lives in the West Bank and is unable to train with his Cairo-based coach — a Gazan who cannot travel to him due to Israeli restrictions.
