Israel has no place among the Olympic nations for the Paris 2024 Games!
In February 2022, the International Olympic Committee banned Russia and Belarus from world sport to sanction the countries guilty of the invasion of Ukraine. This legitimate decision was based on international law and in particular on article 2, paragraph 4, of the UN charter condemning the acquisition of territories by war.
Considered not responsible for the aggressive policy pursued by the country of which they are citizens, Russian and Belarusian athletes will however be allowed to participate under a neutral banner in the Paris 2024 Games.
What will happen to the State of Israel? Both the brutality of its military intervention in Gaza, its multiple violations of international law and its determination to refuse and prevent a viable Palestinian state question the legitimacy of its presence at the Paris Games.
As such, the France Palestine Solidarité association sent an open letter to the President of the International Olympic Committee and the President of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Open letter to the president of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and to the president of the International Olympic Committee
Mr President of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games,
The State of Israel has no place among the Olympic nations for the Paris 2024 Games.
In February 2022, the International Olympic Committee banned Russia and Belarus from world sport to sanction the countries guilty of the invasion of Ukraine. This legitimate decision was based on international law and in particular on article 2, paragraph 4, of the UN charter condemning the acquisition of territories by war.
Considered not responsible for the aggressive policy pursued by the country of which they are citizens, Russian and Belarusian athletes will however be allowed to participate under a neutral banner in the Paris 2024 Games.
What will happen to the State of Israel? Both the brutality of its military intervention in Gaza, its multiple violations of international law and its determination to refuse and prevent a viable Palestinian state question the legitimacy of its presence at the Paris Games.
If the question arises, it is firstly because since 1948 Israel has systematically ignored all UN resolutions ordering it to comply with international law.
Resolution 194 authorizing the return of Palestinian refugees expelled in 1948, resolution 242 condemning the military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, resolution 2334 denouncing the colonization of the West Bank including East Jerusalem, all are remained a dead letter.
If the question arises, it is also because it is no longer possible to ignore that Israel exercises an apartheid regime against the Palestinian people as a whole.
Between 2021 and 2022, major human rights NGOs B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International analyzed and exposed the Israeli apartheid regime. A regime of oppression and domination established by Israel, causing two populations with unequal rights to coexist between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan, according to the statuses that Israel assigns to each.
Israel has been guilty of war crimes for decades: colonization, annexation of territory, assassination and confinement of civilian populations. But also crimes against humanity: forced population displacement, crime of apartheid.
If the question arises, finally, it is because Israel is now under suspicion of the crime of genocide.
On January 26, 2024, the International Court of Justice considered the risk of genocide in Gaza sufficiently plausible to agree to examine it. In fact, the victims of Israeli bombings number in the tens of thousands, mostly women and children.
Two million forcibly displaced people survive in tent camps, under the rubble, starving, drinking putrid water, unable to be treated, and are pushed towards the Egyptian border without being assured of escaping the bombings.
In what remains of the hospitals, children are even amputated, without anesthesia due to lack of it. All because Israel prevents almost all basic necessities and humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip.
So if the question arises, the answer is clear: an apartheid state which violates international law, international humanitarian law and is suspected of genocide cannot decently have a place among the Olympic nations.
Like other states violating international law, the State of Israel has no place among the sporting nations of the Paris 2024 Games. Like Russian and Belarusian athletes, Israeli athletes must be able to participate, but only under neutral banner.
Imposing this sanction today will be an important contribution to respecting international law to move towards a just and lasting peace, ensuring justice and security for all. This will make it possible to escape from the double standards criticized by Western countries by a large part of the world.
For the national office of the AFPS
Anne Tuaillon, president
