Today, the #GenocideGames come to a close in Paris.
Despite their repressive measures, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and host country France were unable to stop the many creative protests against the participation of apartheid Israel.
Algerian Judoka Messaoud Dris refused to compete against the representative of Israel’s genocidal regime, while Judokas Nurali Emomali from Tajikistan and Abderrahman Bushita from Morocco refused to shake hands with Israeli representatives.
Fans held Palestinian flags and banners reading “Genocide Olympics” and wore t-shirts spelling out “Free Palestine” in the stadiums where Israel’s Team Genocide competed.
Graffiti along the banks of the Seine River denounced Israel’s Gaza genocide during the opening ceremony. An activist rappelled down a tall building with the Palestinian flag on her back. The Israeli cycling team was met with Palestinian flags and a genocide banner. Paris was plastered with stickers and posters on the Genocide Games.
The hashtags #BanIsrael and #GenocideGames were trending on social media.
Conscientious athletes, groups on the ground in Paris, and YOU kept the spotlight on Israel’s Gaza genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians during the Olympics. Together, we made this a story the press could not ignore.
Take action today, during the closing ceremony, to remind everyone:
There’s nothing to celebrate at the #GenocideGames
Through it all, genocidal Israel continues to massacre, burn and starve masses of Palestinians in Gaza, with the death toll standing at 40,000, including hundreds of athletes.
Through it all, international sporting bodies like the IOC and FIFA continue to shamefully shield Israel from accountability for its trifecta of crimes against Palestinians: war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
FIFA postponed a planned decision on banning Israel from world football until the end of this month, guaranteeing genocidal Israel’s football team a chance to compete at the Olympics.
FIFA and the IOC have been ignoring calls from the Palestinian Olympic Committee, the Palestinian Football Association, the Asian Football Confederation, more than one million signatures from people around the world, members of parliament, international athletes, international jurists, and Mandla Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson, to ban apartheid Israel from sports, just as apartheid South Africa was.
But we won’t let those calls go unanswered.
Today we keep the spotlight on the IOC’s complicity. Tomorrow we turn to FIFA.
Join us.