TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The head of the Palestine Olympic Committee slammed “double standards” by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over its decision to allow Israel to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Palestinian Olympic head Jibril Rajoub demanded a boycott in a letter to the IOC earlier this week which was rejected by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.

"This confirms that there are international institutions that insist on applying double standards and not adhering to the Olympic Charter, laws and regulations, or morals," Rajoub said as he arrived at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport with a Palestinian sports delegation, AFP reported on Friday, July 26, 2024.

A crowd of roughly a hundred people greeted the athletes with dates and chants of "Free, Free Palestine!".

"The Israelis or the Israeli Olympic Committee have lost the moral, sports, humanitarian and legal right to participate," Rajoub said, adding that Israel's ongoing bombardment of Gaza constitutes "crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing."

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of about 1,170 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel then escalated its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, killing over 39,175 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The Palestine Olympic Committee said about 400 Palestinian athletes have been killed, while others have been unable to train or travel because of Israeli bombings or restrictions.

Russia, meanwhile, was banned from the Paris Olympics by the IOC for violating the Olympic Charter when it annexed the Ukrainian sports organization after the Kremlin’s invasion in 2022.

The IOC has in the past denied that Israel is violating the Olympic Charter and has stressed the relationship between the Israeli and Palestinian Olympic Committees.

“We have two National Olympic Committees, that is the difference with the world of politics, and in this respect, both have been living in peaceful co-existence,” IOC chief Thomas Bach said in Paris on Tuesday, July 23.

“We are not in the political business, we are there to accomplish our mission to get the athletes together.”

Upon arriving on Thursday, July 25, Palestinian swimmer Yazan Al Bawwab said he wanted to raise awareness about the Palestinian cause and the suffering in Gaza.

"As an athlete... it's not about the medals. It's about reaching the most people, about the Palestinian cause," Yazan Al Bawwab said. "Sports is a tool for peace also, it's a way to spread my message to the world about Palestinians and that we're suffering."

ANTARA | THE DAILY STAR

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