Jose Gonzalez-Campelo/The Cougar
The Olympic Truce has a history dating back to the ninth century B.C. and has been cited as the reason to ban multiple countries from participating in the games over the years. With nations like Russia and Belarus being excluded from this year’s games, it should go without saying that Israel should be banned as well.
Despite this, the country remains in the competition.
The original idea behind the Olympic Truce was to provide safe travel to athletes and other participants as they attended the games. As time has changed the context in which the games exist, it has evolved into something meant to protect participating athletes and sports while promoting a peaceful narrative for every nation to aspire to.
In the evolution of the truce, the International Olympic Committee has aimed to unify nations and reconcile conflict. This is why Russia, who has been banned for the past eight years, and Belarus were excluded from this year’s summer games due to their involvement in the invasion of Ukraine.
Athletes from excluded nations are still permitted to compete in the games under the Olympic flag rather than their country’s. These competitors are considered “Individual Neutral Athletes,” and there are over a dozen competing this year from both Russia and Belarus.
Given the nature of these particular bans, it only makes sense that Israel would follow in the list of disallowed nations given the country’s persistent attacks on Palestine. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.
This has led to mass uproar online, with many audience members booing Israeli athletes once they take the stage and insisting they should have sat this year’s games out. The Palestinian Olympic Committee even sent a letter to the IOC insisting the Israeli teams should be banned, as the bombings in Gaza clearly violate the Olympic Truce.
IOC president Thomas Bach claimed he would not take part in “political business” in response to said letter.
Given the fact that the International Court of Justice has ruled Israel’s occupation of Palestine as unlawful, citing multiple violations of international law, these objections to the country’s presence at the games are more than justified.
During the 1948 Summer Olympics, nearly three years after the end of World War Ⅱ, both Germany and Japan were excluded from the games as punishment. In addition to this, South Africa was barred from participating from 1964-1988 due to their refusal to condemn apartheid.
The Israeli occupation of Palestine has been an issue for decades, and the last year of attacks alone has resulted in the loss of about 40,000 Palestinian lives.
If the German, Japanese and South African teams were disbanded in such a manner, then the Israeli Olympic Committee should have faced the same treatment this year in accordance with those same rules.
Denying Palestinian athletes safe passage and refusing to uphold the standards they’ve kept for every other nation up until now is a shameful display from the IOC. Every day, citizens of Palestine have been made to face the trampling of their homes and loved ones. An estimated 400 Palestinian athletes have lost their lives in the midst of this conflict.
Bach and the IOC condoning Israel’s participation in the games despite this is not “neutrality,” it’s blatantly disregarding the events that have occurred during the Israel-Palestine conflict.
In refusing to take a strong stance against the Israeli government’s offensive to the Palestinian people, the IOC is effectively ignoring not only the point of the Olympic Truce but the spirit of the games themselves. In choosing “political neutrality,” they’re choosing to damn the cries from Palestinian athletes and turn a blind eye to their suffering.
The Olympics have always been political. The games have a history of boycotts and bans that simply cannot be described as apolitical and claiming otherwise is absurdly disingenuous.
Banning Israel would not immediately result in the end of the Israel-Palestine conflict, but it’s a step in showing the world that we should not stand for Palestinian genocide.
The Olympic Truce exists to inspire peace, and that’s a good thing. Instead of scapegoating through “political neutrality,” the IOC should uphold the truce’s message in the hopes that we may one day see a free Palestine.
Parker Hodges-Beggs is a journalism sophomore who can be reached at [email protected]
