Mohamed Abdalrasool and Fethi Nurine boycotted their fights against Tohar Butbul in a judo competition – because their opponent comes from Israel. It is not the first time that athletes have avoided duels against Israelis.
Boycotting duels with Israeli athletes has a sad tradition in sport – and the Olympic Games in Tokyo are not spared: Two judoka have given up their fights against an Israeli opponent and were therefore suspended from the games. These are the Sudanese Mohamed Abdalrasool and the Algerian Judoka Fethi Nurine. The latter should have started the weight class up to 73 kilograms against the Israeli Tohar Butbul.
Fethi Nurine had recently told the Algerian television station that he could not run against an Israeli because of his political support for the Palestinians in the Middle East conflict. “We worked a lot to get to the Olympics, but the Palestinian cause is bigger than any of that,” said the judoka. Nurine had already been disqualified from the World Judo Championship in 2019 for refusing to fight an Israeli athlete.
Athlete and coach immediately suspended
The Algerian Olympic Committee recognized Nurine and his trainer Benichlef the accreditation and ordered their return trip. Both have been suspended for the time being, a disciplinary commission should now decide on further consequences, the world association IJF announced and further wrote that Nurine’s behavior was “in total contrast to the philosophy” of the association. Judo is based on solidarity, respect and friendship. Any form of discrimination can therefore not be tolerated.
Mohamed Abdalrasool should have initially fought against Nurine, but through his exclusion and the associated advancement of Tohar Butbul, the Israeli would have been his opponent. The 28-year-old Sudanese did not give a reason for the withdrawal.
In the past few years, sporting disputes with Israelis have been rejected again and again. Very often the boycott came from the Iranian side – Israel’s self-declared archenemy. At the World Chess Championships, for example, it is not uncommon for the organizers not to include any Israeli-Iranian games in the draw. In 2017 there was a scandal at the U-23 World Cup in Poland when the Iranian Ali-Resa Karimi had to lose in the round of 16 on the instructions of his coach in order not to have to face an Israeli opponent in the next round.
Iranians flee to Germany
To avoid a similar fate, the Iranian judo world champion Saeid Mollaei fled to Germany some time ago. At the 2019 World Cup, which, like the Olympic Games, also took place in Tokyo, his association asked him to intentionally lose to Belgian Matthias Casse in the semifinals in order not to have to face Israeli Sagi Muki in a possible final.
In football, the Israeli national team also plays in the European association Uefa because its Arab neighbors completely isolated Israel in the 1970s and 1980s and thus denied access to the Asian association AFC.
DPA, AFP, “”, “”, “”
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
