Most of the world’s Israel-related attention has (rightly) focused on the return of Israel’s hostages last week. However, Israeli gymnasts have simultaneously been fighting their own uphill battle against stigmatization.
The World Artistic Gymnastics Championships are set to open in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sunday. Israel’s team was one of 86 scheduled to participate, but that’s changed.
According to the Associated Press, “the Israeli Gymnastics Federation said in July that it had been assured by Indonesian officials that it” could compete. But last “Thursday, Indonesia’s senior minister of law, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, made it clear the Israeli team will not be allowed into the country, despite Israel and Hamas having agreed to a ceasefire.” (Reuters reported there had been “an outcry over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.”)
The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) subsequently published a statement acknowledging “the Indonesian government’s decision not to issue visas to the Israeli delegation” but offered no censure.
The FIG’s own statutes require “the allocation of the event… be cancelled with immediate effect by the Executive Committee” if visas are not “granted to the gymnasts/athletes and to the officials of all Member Federations.” And yet, The Times of Israel reported the “FIG said it had no jurisdiction to force Indonesia to issue visas.”
The Israeli Gymnastics Federation appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, citing “a situation of discrimination.” One appeal sought to nullify the FIG’s public statement; the Court ruled against Israel. In a second, the Israeli Gymnastics Federation asked the Court to “guarantee Israeli participation in the championships, or in the alternative, to move or to cancel the championships.” The Athletic reported “the second appeal ‘is still ongoing’” but won’t “be heard before the world championships begin.” As of now, it appears the event will proceed, with only the six Israeli gymnasts — including 2021 Olympic and 2023 World Championships gold medalist Artem Dolgopyat — excluded.
Dolgopyat posted on Instagram: “I am shocked and very saddened by the decision, and especially that I will not be given the opportunity to represent my country with honor and defend my world title, a title that I won on 07/10, as one of the hardest days we have known as a nation… I’m sad that the week that started so well for our country, with the return of the kidnapped, ended for us exactly like this. But we are a strong nation, that never gives up on who we are. The people of Israel live!”
Dolgopyat’s optimism is admirable. Although, it’s troubling that Israel’s gymnasts face open discrimination when attempting to compete abroad.
The International Olympic Committee rightly issued a statement affirming the importance of “non-discrimination, autonomy and political neutrality” on Friday afternoon, but disappointingly mentioned no immediate consequences for Indonesia and FIG’s violating those principles.
Anti-Israel activists have stirred trouble for Israelis across Europe this fall. For example, the Israel-Premier Tech cycling team attracted dangerous protests while competing in Spain’s Vuelta cycling race last month and were subsequently disinvited from participating in Italy’s Giro dell’Emilia cycling race this month.
Since then, Israel’s national soccer team faced 1,500 anti-Israel marchers before playing a World Cup qualifier in Oslo that featured Palestinian flags and a “Let Children Live” banner; Norway directed profits to anti-Israel NGO Doctors Without Borders for Gaza work. Protests turned violent Tuesday, when 5,000 anti-Israel activists protested Israel’s national soccer team playing a World Cup qualifier in Italy. The Jewish News Syndicate reported “about 1,000 people participated in anti-Israel demonstrations ahead of a basketball game” in Valencia, Spain, involving “the Hapoel Jerusalem team” on Wednesday; Israeli players abandoned their hotel fearing riots there.
And on Thursday, West Midlands Police announced that fans of the Tel Aviv Maccabi soccer team would be barred from Maccabi’s November game against Birmingham, England’s Aston Villa team, pointing to last year’s Amsterdam pogrom against these Israeli soccer fans as proof of safety concerns.
There’s a through-line here. Daniel Flesch, Senior Policy Analyst for the Middle East and North Africa at the Heritage Foundation, observed, “Even as the guns go silent in Gaza, the war against Israel’s legitimacy and international standing continue. This [gymnastics championship] is the latest effort by some in the international community to hold Israel responsible for a war Hamas started and make it an international pariah.” Put differently, even if President Trump’s ceasefire holds, the global anti-Zionist war on Israel continues.
Flesch described Indonesia’s about-face as “motivated in part by some in Indonesia to prevent President [Prabowo] Subianto from improving, or even normalizing, relations with Israel. It was reported that President Subianto was going to travel to Israel this week, but he cancelled the trip, it appears, due to domestic pressure.”
Israel’s athletes don’t represent their government, though, and athletic competition isn’t supposed to be a political cudgel. Still, anti-Zionists are using sporting competitions to vent their rage at Israel. The FIG failed, in upholding its own statutes, but also in seemingly being caught flat-footed. After all, Indonesia’s discrimination against Israeli athletes isn’t new. It dates to 1962.
Those who still believe in sportsmanship or consider themselves friends of Israel — starting with the Trump administration — should insist on a single standard based on existing rules, because the Israeli Gymnastics Federation is right. This is bald discrimination. And wouldn’t competing gymnasts prefer to win knowing they really are the world’s best?
Melissa Langsam Braunstein is a columnist for London’s Jewish Chronicle. You can follow her on X at @slowhoneybee.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY