The Israel Olympic team said athletes have received threats as they compete in the Paris Games amid tensions over the human toll in Gaza and as the Middle East teeters on the edge of a larger regional conflict.
On Tuesday, Yael Arad, the President of the Israeli National Olympic Committee, told the AP that the team had received “centralized” threats meant to generate “psychological terror” in athletes.
Paris prosecutors opened an investigation into emailed death threats to athletes last week after the personal data of some Israeli athletes was leaked online.
The prosecutors also opened an investigation into inciting racial hatred after it said Israeli athletes received ‘’discriminatory gestures” during an Israel-Paraguay match.
Tom Reuveny, a 24-year-old Israeli athlete who won gold in windsurfing over the weekend, was among those who said he’s received threats.
He added that politics “should be put aside” during the Games, speaking to the Associated Press during a memorial for Israeli athletes killed in a massacre during the 1972 Summer Olympics.
“I don’t think any politics should be involved in sport, especially in the Olympic Games,” Reuveny told the Associated Press.
“Unfortunately, there is a lot of politics involved, not in the games of the people who don’t want us to compete and don’t want us to be here. I’ve gotten quite a few messages and threats.”
While Israel has called for the Olympics to remain a neutral space, Palestine’s delegation has used the summer Games as a way to generate conversation about the day-to-day struggles of those in Gaza.
The Israel-Hamas war has claimed more than 39,000 Palestinian lives and wiped out entire Palestinian families.
As global leaders have raised alarm over the mounting human toll in Gaza and called for a ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would accept nothing less than a “total victory” against Hamas.
The world is coming together in Paris at a moment of global political upheaval, multiple wars, historic migration and a deepening climate crisis, all issues that have risen to the forefront of conversation in the Olympics.
Palestine’s Olympic team has demanded that the International Olympic Committee ban Israel from competing in the Olympics, alleging the country has violated the Olympic charter.
Last week, the Palestinian delegation said that it has still not received a response from the IOC and that they planned to take their plea to higher sports courts.
Israel’s team has been met by jeers in stadiums during the country’s national anthem and athletes have arrived at events under a heavy police escort including riot police vans.
“It’s not easy to be an Israeli athlete in the international arena these days,” said Arad.
