The IOC's Refusal to Ban Israel From the Olympics Tells Palestinians Their Lives Have No Value
As the Paris Games begin, I will be thinking of Majed Abu Maraheel, Palestine’s first Olympian, who died in Gaza.
I still remember the joy I felt seeing Majed Abu Maraheel, the first Palestinian Olympian, as he entered the Olympic arena carrying the Palestinian flag at the 1996 Atlanta Games. The games were carried live on screens in Ramallah, where I had just arrived for the summer. The crowd erupted in cheers seeing the Palestinian team bearing the Palestinian flag for the very first time.
This was the first Olympic Games after the start of the so-called “peace process” also known as “Oslo,” the name of the capital in which the launch of negotiations was first agreed to. Oslo brought with it so much disaster for Palestinians, including a skyrocketing number of illegal settlements and settlers, Israeli checkpoints, and Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes.
But Oslo also ushered in an era of symbolism, bringing joy to many Palestinians whose very existence had been denied by Israel and its supporters for decades. The Palestinian flag, previously banned by Israel (and hence the symbolism of the watermelon, which was used to display the Palestinian colors instead), could now fly proudly. It was a tacit acknowledgment of the evil of Israel’s occupation and the right to Palestinians’ freedom. Alongside the symbolism, Palestinians were admitted into international organizations, including the Olympics.
At the same time, however, nothing was done to stop Israel from continuing its crimes so the symbolism of recognizing Palestinians was just that – symbolism. For decades, Western powers have adopted policies that essentially reward and coddle Israel – through providing arms, diplomatic support, trade agreements, or otherwise – for committing day-to-day war crimes while occasionally issuing a slight reprimand for Israel’s egregious war crimes. This “have your cake and eat it too” approach to diplomacy has left Israel empowered and emboldened, able to continue a military occupation, commit war crimes, AND be welcomed into countries around the world.
With Israel committing what judges on the International Court of Justice have deemed to be a “plausible genocide” in Gaza, and on the heels of the ICJ ruling that Israel’s occupation is plainly illegal, one would have expected that the International Olympic Committee, the body charged with making decisions on the Olympics, would ban Israel from participating in the games in Paris, just as Belarus and Russia have been banned for the war in Ukraine. Only “neutral athletes” from Belarus and Russia can compete without their countries’ national flags or anthems.
Yet, when it comes to Israel, the rules seem to be different. Rules of neutrality don’t seem to apply. For example, Israel’s flag bearer, Peter Paltchik, in a now-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), shared an image of a bomb with his name on it along with the caption, "from me to you with pleasure", as well as "#HamasisISIS" and "#IsraelAtWar."