Anti-Semitism At The Olympics By Gary Bauer of American Values
For all the concern about Zika, there is more than one virus infecting the Olympic Games in Rio. Saturday, a Lebanese official physically blocked the door of a bus in order to prevent the Israeli Olympic team from riding on the same bus as the Lebanese team. The official, Salim Haj Nicola, doesn’t deny the accusation. In fact, he admits it.
“I asked the bus driver to close the door but the guide with the Israeli team prevented him from doing so. I then stood at the door of the bus to prevent the Israel team from entering,” Haj Nicola said. Sadly, Lebanon has become a breeding ground for Hezbollah, a terrorist army that does Iran’s bidding throughout the Middle East.
But that’s not the only example of anti-Semitism facing Israeli athletes.
In June, Ala Ghasoun, a Syrian boxer, refused to fight an Israeli during an Olympic qualifying match. As Ghasoun explained, “I quit the competition because my rival was Israeli, and I cannot shake his hand or compete against him. . . If I fight against him, it would mean that I, as an athlete, and Syria, as a state, recognize the state of Israel.”
Some commentators have tried to blame these incidents on Israel, whose democratically elected government follows Western values. But other Olympic teams, even those from nations with repressive governments, are not treated like this. It is nothing more than anti-Semitism plain and simple.
Race-Baiting In Rio
The Olympic Games are supposed to be a model of meritocracy — the pinnacle of sports talent. Yet for some left-wing activists, it’s all about race and identity politics.
For example, CNN host Kamau Bell last week called on Michael Phelps, one of America’s greatest Olympic athletes and the most decorated Olympian in history, to give up the honor of carrying the American flag during the opening ceremonies.
Why should Phelps refuse this honor? In part, because of his white privilege. In Bell’s view, “America has enough tall, successful, rich white guys hogging the spotlight trying to make America great … again.” Instead of Phelps, Bell wanted Ibtihaj Muhammad, a black Muslim fencer, to carry the flag.
Why Muhammad? Because she “would be nearly a one-stop inclusion shop. . . an African-American, hijab-wearing Muslim woman. . . Those are all groups that could always use some more love, acceptance, and respect from this country.”
That Bell could write such a column represents the triumph of race baiting and identity politics in America. I think Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. would be disappointed that so many on the left today insist on judging people by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character or, in the case of Olympic athletes, their ability.
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